Since the turn of the millennium Canada has undergone a profound shift in how it represents itself at a federal level. The beginnings of this new electoral landscape were formed in 2004. With the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party, right-wing of politics presented a more united front. In contrast, the left was splintering. The Liberal Party was losing votes to the New Democratic Party, a social democratic party with strong ties to organised labor, and an up-and-coming Green Party. The new landscape came into its current shape in the federal elections of 2011. The Liberal Party of Canada, historically the mainstay of Canadian politics and policy, surprised many when it fared so poorly in the election. In Canada's 308 seat Parliament, the Liberal Party only held 34 seats — to give perspective on this dramatic shift, they had held 155 seats following the 2000 federal election.  For the first time in Canada's history, the NDP was the official opposition. This was partly because of the failure of the Liberal Party, but the NDP also stomped through Quebec, wresting control of the province away from the Bloc Québécois, which has had almost total control over the province since the 1990s. This radical change in the left gave Stephen Harper's Conservatives an absolute majority, meaning they could push through a series of environmentally disastrous reforms. Canada is now the only country to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol and has spurned any international, binding climate change treaty, refusing to sign the Bali Protocol and instead latching onto the ineffectual Copenhagen Accord with its non-binding targets. Both Australia and Canada are starting to be seen as environmental pariahs. The most disturbing development is the rejection of the scientific consensus on global warming as this undermines the legitimacy of the entire movement. Not all hope is lost. Direct action by environmental groups is proving to be somewhat effective, and challenges to legislation through litigation are now having a greater effect than lobby recalcitrant governments. The environmental movement is nowhere near death, and the growth of green groups in parliaments in Canada and in Australia points to an awareness of how business as usual is no longer possible. In the short term, change is looking difficult, and long-term change hinges upon a motivated population eager to see a more sustainable future that is more aware of the challenges the world faces as a whole.