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NATL61_040-047 03/08/2007 09:47 AM Page 40 Feature Here an act, there an act, everywhere uncertainty by Patti Ryan here’s something in the air, and it isn’t love. It’s climate for inside counsel at big firms in high-emissions industries. change, smog and corporate confusion. After successive World concern about greenhouse gases was sparked 15 years Liberal governments, the Conservatives have introduced ago at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate T the new Clean Air Act and now,corporate Canada is once Change (UNFCC) conference.The next step,five years later,was again revisiting its approach to the environment. the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.Then, in 2002, the Chrétien govern- Introduced by then Environment Minister Rona Ambrose in ment came out with its green plan,says Ezekiel.“But Martin kai- October, the Clean Air Act was immediately criticized by the boshed that and came up with a different plan in 2005.Then, of opposition parties, who threatened a non-confidence vote. NDP course, he left office and Harper came in, and he and Rona leader Jack Layton met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Ambrose tossed that in the waste bin, and came up with the broker a deal that saw the bill, which had undergone just one Clean Air Act in 2006.” reading in Parliament, sent to an all-party special parliamentary All the stalling, stumbling, trashing and rehashing has left committee for amendments. industry groping for guidance.“I think a lot of them are sort of “If you had to generalize, basically what the Clean Air Act did standing there shaking their heads, thinking,‘We all see the cli- was set some loose targets over a long period of time, whereas mate change train coming down the tracks, but we don’t know Layton’s proposal is to set fixed targets over a short period of whether it’s going to turn left, right or keep going down the time,” explains Ron Ezekiel, a partner with the environmental, middle,’” says Ezekiel. energy and resources practice group at Fasken Martineau Corporate counsel, especially in emissions-intensive indus- DuMoulin in Vancouver. “They’ll probably end up somewhere tries, know what questions they ought to be asking, but answers in the middle-but it’s hard to say.” are hard to come by because of the uncertainty. For example: PIERRE LOUIS MONGEAU Hard to say is an apt description for the entire regulatory envi- What steps should your company be taking right now to man- ronment surrounding climate change-and it’s making life difficult age risk and ensure the board of directors gets the advice it needs 40 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association MARCH 2007