Canadian government may fall, bring in greener coalition

It looks like Stéphane Dion might just make it to the Prime Minister’s office after all, at least for a little while. According to frenzied reporting out of Ottawa, opposition parties in Canada’s Parliament (who, while not forming the government, hold the majority of seats between them) are preparing to topple the Conservative government of Stephen Harper.

According to initial reports, Dion would become Prime Minister until the spring, when his party chooses a new leader.

It will go down on Dec. 8, when opposition parties will table a motion of no confidence in the House of Commons; the motion will endorse a coalition of parties forming a replacement without running a new election.

All this is nearly unprecedented in Canadian politics (nearly unprecedented because the last true coalition government was during WWI) and pretty much unvarnished good news for the environment.

Dion has gotten a lot of positive press for his environmental policies. Too bad he was a better environment minister than political leader, or else his party might not now be looking for his replacement.

The Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois are all further to the left and much, much better on environmental questions than the current government. Between a change in Ottawa and the change in Washington, it looks like the last of the roadblocks to serious climate change action in North America are falling.

But we’ll see what happens Dec. 8.