The party of principle (cont'd)

Reversal on Kyoto seen as part of wider Tory shift towards centre:

OTTAWA (CP) - The Conservative party's sudden embrace of the Kyoto accord has astonished its supporters and critics, who see it as a flip-flop of historic proportions. The move is seen as part of a wider shift that moves the party away from its the political right in an effort to court voters as an early federal election threatens. A party spokesman denies its position has changed on Kyoto. Party spokesman Geoff Norquay confirmed Thursday the party now supports the objectives of the climate treaty, though not the Liberal plan for complying with those objectives. People who think the party has reversed itself have not understood its position, Norquay suggested... However, the party's former strong opposition to the accord is clear from numerous public comments in recent years. At an election rally in Barrie, Ont., last June 9, Harper said he would scrap the accord. "Kyoto is never going to be passed and I think we'd be better to spend our time on realistic pollution-control measures," he said then. The change in the Conservative position was first revealed by party environment critic Bob Mills following release of the Liberal government's Kyoto implementation plan Wednesday. Mills said Canada is committed to the treaty, but the Conservatives would produce a more realistic plan. He suggested the emissions-cutting targets should be stretched over a longer time, which would require renegotiating the treaty. Mills also denied he had changed his position, although he's on the record with anti-Kyoto positions going back to the negotiation of the treaty in 1997. In 2003, he told the Commons, "I could not be any more convinced that Kyoto is the wrong way to go. I would not be working seven days a week on this file or talking so long in the House if I did not believe that this is the worst treaty the country could ever sign..."