Article content continued

Since its election in 2006, the Harper government has repeatedly pledged to introduce new regulations to crack down on pollution from the oil and gas sector, but those rules were subsequently delayed by successive Conservative environment ministers.

The report, which is usually released in the middle of summer with a technical briefing from bureaucrats, and a news conference from the environment minister, was posted on the department website this time.

A few hours before it was published, a spokeswoman for Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said she didn’t know whether it was about to be released.

Aglukkaq, who declined requests for an interview, later told the House of Commons that the government was “taking action to address climate change.”

Green Party leader Elizabeth May said the government is deliberately trying to hide information about what she described as weak efforts to address a global crisis.

“They know they have nothing but bad news on the climate file so they run away from it. They hide it,” said May. “Certainly there was an opportunity to provide some information to Canadians and they’ve chosen to release it by stealth.”

NDP deputy leader Megan Leslie noted that the report has language that appears to downplay the role of human activity in global warming by highlighting natural factors that contribute to climate change.

“Our own government falls short of its own target,” said Leslie. “It’s just more evidence that the Conservatives aren’t taking climate change seriously. … The only climate change achievement of this government has been to delay regulating emissions as long as possible. Obstructing climate change negotiations, pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol and appointing a minister of the environment who doubts climate change science.”