Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa yesterday morning after a six-week recess, where they were greeted by a sunbathing Greenpeace activist in a polar-bear suit.

The environmental protests outside and the heated exchanges in Question Period over global warming made it abundantly clear that climate change will be the dominant issue of this winter session.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion launched into Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons, daring him to state that he is "no longer a climate-change denier."

Mr. Harper countered with catchphrases from his party's new anti-Dion attack ads, saying the Liberal Leader had his chance in office and "he did not get it done."

While the Question Period rhetoric is sure to carry on for some time in this vein, the real battleground over the coming weeks will be in a Commons committee room. Parliamentarians on a special legislative committee decided yesterday to wrap up their work on the government's Clean Air Act on pollution and climate change no later than March 30. Continued...