In a move that has stunned the House of Commons, the Conservatives have supported of a Bloc Quebecois motion calling for "absolute limits on greenhouse gas emissions to meet the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol".

The Bloc motion calls for the government to urgently set absolute targets for cutting greenhouse emissions so as to achieve the objectives of Kyoto, and as a preliminary condition for establishing a carbon exchange market in Montreal.

The Canadian Press is reporting that the motion was passed unanimously earlier this afternoon in the nation's capital - a move that appears to be a complete flip-flop in Tory policy. As early as last week, Environment Minister John Baird had stated that meeting Kyoto would ruin the Canadian economy, and the Conservatives have consistently opposed hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions.

However, more controversy is afoot. There are rumblings out of Conservative corners that they voted in favour of the Bloc motion because it was presented in French and they never understood it.

Incredulous opposition MPs initially attributed the government's support for the Bloc motion to a translation error, which translated "absolute" targets as "fixed" targets. But after the error was corrected, the government voted in favour.

Given the strange nature of these events, it remains to be seen what this means for Canada's stance on Kyoto and for the country's global warming policy. In the mean time, the Conservative's are scheduled to unveil their plans to address greenhouse gas emissions in the oil sands on Thursday.

More to come as the situation develops.