Canada’s New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton continues to opt for cheap partisan opportunism over sound environmental policy – most recently decrying the British Columbia carbon tax as “unfair for ordinary working families” and tying it to Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper.

There was a time when the NDP had real credibility as Canada’s most environmentally conscious party – a position that they have given over, apparently in equal parts, to the Green party and to Stephane Dion’s Liberals.

Now, instead of standing up for a good policy , Layton and the New Democrats provincially and federally are trying to score cheap points against their perceived rivals, in the process, chipping away at public support for any substantive action on climate change.

The only success he is likely to have with this line of attack is to strengthen the position of the Conservatives – a party that at least admits that it cares more about power than about the environment.

People hoping to defeat Stephen Harper – the only political leader in North America with NO plan to address climate change – might start thinking of the NDP as a questionable alternative. Or maybe not, depending on your riding. Go to VoteForEnvironment.ca and find out who is the candidate with the best chance of unseating the Harper Conservatives.