Terence Young, M.P.
Oakville

Conservatives will achieve an absolute reduction of 150 megatonnes in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 — in a myriad of ways that work — while providing Canadian jobs!

Reducing our carbon footprint using Canadian technology, Canadian know-how, and creating Canadian jobs!

I’ve had this all-Canadian invention – Hydrogen Fuel Injection – installed on my Ford Escape. This box generates hydrogen and oxygen from ordinary distilled water and sends it to the engine to act as a catalyst for a cleaner and leaner burn. It reduces pollution by up to 40% and gas consumption by over 10%! Beginning in 2011 the Conservative government will for the first time regulate the fuel efficiency of cars and light trucks! Our plan is to buy a hybrid next time.

Government leadership under Conservatives and action on our environment has worked in the past! It will work on climate change and global warming as well.

Three times in the past, potential environmental catastrophes in Canada were turned around by Conservative governments. Acid Rain was killing life in the Great Lakes in the 1980s. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was recognized by environmentalists as the best Prime Minister in history for our environment after he hired former Progressive Conservative Premier Bill Davis to negotiate a very tough acid rain treaty with the U.S. states bordering on the Great Lakes. Mulroney also introduced the Environmental Protection Act, recognized as a breakthrough at the time.

The Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol of 1987.

The first concerted action on climate change took place twenty years ago in Montreal under a Conservative government — and it worked! In the 1980s, due in part to the widespread use and releases of hydrofluoro-carbons (HFCs) into our atmosphere, the ozone layer that protects us from the harshest ultraviolet rays of the sun was diminishing and had developed a hole over the Antarctic. The 1987 Montreal ban on ozone-depleting chemicals has been extremely effective at preserving and growing the ozone layer and curbing greenhouse gases as well. It is estimated the ozone layer will be fully restored by 2050.

Leaded Gas was banned for cars by Conservatives in 1990.

When I was in university, we could often see the dead grass and trees alongside our highways all over Canada. Leaded gas was the cause – an unnecessary additive the gas refiners put in gas to reduce engine knock, but which poisoned wild life and our air. Gasoline regulations were put in place in 1990, under the Conservative government, banning leaded gasoline in motor vehicles. By 1991, leaded gasoline only represented 3% of the total gasoline produced for use in Canada. The result today is living trees and wildlife alongside our roads and highways.

According to his former Minister of the Environment, Hon. Christine Stewart, Liberal Stéphane Dion made it impossible to meet the Liberal Kyoto commitment when there was still time to do so. As a Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in the late nineties, while there was still time to meet our Kyoto commitments, he discouraged effective measures to reduce greenhouse gasses because he didn’t want to upset the provinces. In the meanwhile, Liberal Dalton McGuinty kept open four coal burning plants in Ontario after 2003, breaking a key campaign promise. In 2003 Dalton McGuinty claimed that 1,800 Ontarians died every year due to unclean air in Ontario. So, how many died from 2003-2007 after he was elected?

Now the Conservatives are taking real and effective measures to reduce greenhouse gasses.

Under the Regulatory Framework for Air Emissions, greenhouse gas emissions will stop rising by 2010, without plants being forced to close and thousands of jobs being lost. Regulations will place caps on total emissions of four key causes of acid rain and smog: nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOCS) and particulate matter (PM).

The most common reason children in the GTA end up in hospitals is breathing problems like asthma. Our plan will help reduce premature deaths related to pollution in adults: strokes, heart attacks, and and hospital admissions for people of all ages.

Here are some more ways we reduce greenhouse gasses in the Young family — like many other families in Oakville. Many small things can make a big difference!

Drive less — short trips and fewer trips by car. Walk when we can. Work from home. Drive slower! Check tire pressure regularly. Do regular car tune-ups.	Use Go Transit when we can. Adjust the thermostat and water heater down in winter. Dishwasher runs only when full. Lights in our empty rooms are always off. Use a push lawn mower. Use lower wattage light bulbs.
Trees consume carbon dioxide, produce oxygen and shade houses! Like others in Oakville, Gloria and I have enjoyed planting trees and bushes around our house — over forty since since 2002!	Our friend and Oakville resident Brenda Potter-Phelan went a step further and bought a Ford Hybrid.