Anyone who believes Stephane Dion really cares about the environment is forgetting one key fact: Dion is a Liberal.

And the only thing Liberals really care about is getting elected.

Already we can see the outlines of the cynical election strategy Dion and his buddies are concocting.

Yes they will portray themselves as the “Defenders of the Environment” but they will be careful not to upset their power base in Ontario and Quebec.

They won’t suggest Quebec regulate or control it’s manufacturing sector; nor will they ask Torontonians to stop driving SUVS.

Instead, they will simply promise to make Alberta shoulder the burden — Albertans you see don’t vote Liberal, making them expendable.

In fact, Liberal MP Mark Holland let the cat out of the bag early.

As Lorne Gunter notes in a column yesterday, “When asked whether the Liberals might nationalize the oilsands if Alberta refused to go along with Ottawa’s development caps, Holland said his party would try to `work with them collaboratively,’ but ‘of course, if they refuse to work with us … there will be consequences.’”

Will the Liberal strategy really help stop global warming?

No.

Will it wreck Alberta’s economy?

Definitely.

Do the Liberals care?

Of course not.

All that matters to them is getting back power.