SIERRA CLUB OF CANADA : ANALYSIS OF ELECTORAL PLATFORMS Sierra Club of Canada releases its analysis of Electoral Platforms (Ottawa: January 16, 2006) - Sierra Club of Canada today released its analysis of the environment and sustainability commitments of the five major political parties. All the platforms were graded against a possible total of 75 points, augmented by a questionnaire, posted at www.sierraclub.ca/national/vote-canada/2006/, for a possible additional 28 points. The commitment to the Kyoto Protocol is paramount, but was only one of many possible points to be allocated within a full breadth of environmental commitments. Party scores were as follows: Green Party 97, NDP 91, Liberal 53, Bloc 46, and Conservative 31. "The Green Party really improved its platform since the 2004 election, with a greater sophistication in its policy recommendations. For the first time, it has the strongest set of recommendations for environment and sustainability. The New Democratic Party is only slightly behind the Greens," noted Ms. May. "The Liberal Party platform is strong on Kyoto, eco-system restoration and national parks, but loses points for its continued booster-ism for tar sands expansion and the Mackenzie gas pipeline. The Bloc scores poorly as it is disinterested in policies for all of Canada, nor does it support a strong federal government -- an essential element in environmental protection in Canada." The poorest set of environmental promises was those of the Conservative Party.  "We are very concerned that the Conservative Party, alone among all the major parties, is unprepared to commit to current Kyoto targets, to which Canada is bound under international law, nor to adopt longer term targets post 2012 within Kyoto," said John Bennett, Senior Policy Advisor on energy to the Sierra Club of Canada. "In the coming week, we hope Mr. Harper will be called upon to explain how much emphasis he will place on reducing greenhouse gases and what approach he will take to the upcoming global negotiations for deeper reduction targets, should his party form government." Canada's role in the next round of negotiations is critical as Canada will, as a result of our role in hosting the Conference of the Parties in Montreal (November 28-December 9, 2005) continue as the head of the United Nations negotiation process until November 2006. The next negotiation session will be this spring in Bonn. For more information contact: Elizabeth May, 613-241-4611 John Bennett,   613-241-4611