NDP to try to topple government over climate change policies

The New Democrats will try to bring down the federal government on Friday by introducing a confidence motion criticizing the Conservatives' record on climate change.

But the Liberals have already indicated they will not vote for the motion, meaning the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not fall.

The NDP will use their opposition day to say the House of Commons has lost confidence in the government for failing to live up to its international climate change agreements and refusing to adopt opposition-approved legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"I think that it's clear that Canadians cannot have any confidence in the Harper government when it comes to climate change," NDP Leader Jack Layton said. "Heavens, he's shovelling subsidies into the tar sands faster than anyone could imagine."

While Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who has made climate change a top priority, said he supports the NDP motion in principle, it will not be used to topple the government.

"Well, we'll certainly vote supporting the idea that that this government has been wrong, wrong, wrong about the environment, but we'll not trigger an election because Mr. Layton is asking for one."

Dion indicated that only a handful of Liberal MPs will support the NDP motion and the rest will boycott the vote. The Liberals have employed similar tactics on other budget votes — a move heckled by Harper and the other party leaders.

Liberal environment critic David McGuinty said the NDP are just playing political games.

"In order to try to score cheap political points, the NDP are playing cheap mischievous games in the house with motions they know are not going to succeed."

McGuinty made the comments after the Liberals tried to pass a motion that condemned the "irresponsible and self-serving actions" of the NDP and Bloc Québécois in defeating the previous Liberal government in 2005, thus enabling the Harper Tories to take power.

The motion also comes as CBC News has learned a yet-to-be-released federal report concludes that Canada can expect to see more devastating storms and extreme weather because of climate change.