"With Canada on the verge of a federal election, there is a real opportunity for the opposition to show they would do things different than the current government's irresponsible behavior on the biggest threat facing the global community," said Ben West, Climate Campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.

The Wilderness Committee has published a new report entitled "Global Warming: Made in Canada? - Fixing Our Tarnished Reputation" which highlights Canada's status as a pariah on the world stage when it comes to action on climate change. Canada has been awarded the "fossil of the year award" four years in row by international environmental organizations at the UN climate negotiations. The award is given to the country that has done the most to disrupt or undermine the UN climate talks.

The report outlines a series of policies that could restore Canada's international reputation on this issue. "Our report includes the key strategic decisions that we call on all parties to adopt as policy, including funds for strategic investments like high speed rail between Windsor and Quebec City, and opposition to the proposed Enbridge pipeline and the proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline in BC," said West.

"This election is an opportunity to bring in policies that reflect the good global citizenship that Canadians pride ourselves in," said West. "Sitting on one of the biggest reserves of fossil fuels left on the planet is a big responsibility and the world is counting on real meaningful leadership. The impacts of climate change are already being felt by people world wide. We need change and we need it now," said West.

The report calls for an immediate end to fossil fuel subsidies and a shift from spending money on new highway development to public transit and electrified passenger rail. Canada's fossil fuel industry is currently subsidized by 1.4 billion dollars a year. The most recent numbers from Transportation Canada show that almost four times as much is spent on highways than all other modes of transportation combined. Transportation is currently the number one source of emissions in Canada.

"Canada's trade and environmental policies increasingly seem to be based around protection of the oil industry which continues to be highly subsidized in our country," said West. "Our report gets specific about where the choke points are in Canada to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and play a responsible role in the world," said West.

The Wilderness Committee is also calling for a ban on expansion of the tar sands and all new fossil fuel export infrastructure, including new crude oil pipelines, as well as the creation of transition strategies to create good green jobs for Canadians.