Canada has been handed the “fossil of the day” award from an environmental activist group at the UN climate conference in Kenya, where Environment Minister Rona Ambrose is expected to defend Ottawa’s position on the Kyoto Protocol. Not that anybody cares what the UN environment panel thinks….
Canada also ranked near the bottom of the list created by Bonn-based development group for its efforts to fight global warming. Although nobody really cares, it does give Canadians an idea of whats’ going on where their eyes can’t see, i.e. oil sands destroying fresh water supplies in North Alberta.
Germanwatch placed Canada 52nd out of a list of 56 countries that were part of a 1992 climate treaty or contribute at least one per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world. The countries, which were graded on emissions levels, emissions trends and climate policy, comprise 90 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Topping the list were Sweden, the United Kingdom and Denmark while the only countries below Canada were Kazakhstan, the United States, China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Certainly, Canadians are horribly spoiled, they can’t see the abuse because the country is so big.
Meanwhile, opposition MPs and environmentalists made it clear that they don’t stand behind the government’s position on the Kyoto Protocol. “The majority of Canadians are firmly and strongly behind living up to our Kyoto obligations,” said Liberal environment critic John Godfrey.
This is funny, cause everyone I talk to is smart enough to know that Kyoto is gargabe, it doesn’t help the environment on a world scale. Canada is a drop in the bucket. Abusers like CHina and India need to get on board, but thats’ not going to happen. Canada’s contribution will hurt canada far more than benefit the world.
Quebec Environment Minister Claude Bechard called on Ambrose to reaffirm Canada’s commitment to the Kyoto Protocol when she arrives in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Tuesday.
“Until that’s done, there’s no point in talking about any targets whatever,” Bechard said. Too bad Quebec has no idea what Kyoto is about nor will they be adversely affected by it.
The environment minister dismissed the criticism over the weekend, making no apologies for her repeated statements that Canada can’t meet its targets for pollution reduction under Kyoto. Canada promised in the treaty to reduce emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. Instead, emissions under the Liberals rose 27 per cent to 758 million tonnes by 2004. Ambrose has set a new goal of cutting emissions between 45 and 65 per cent from 2003 levels.
Canada also drew fire from French President Jacques Chirac last month as he lamented the deteriorating state of the environment.
China and the Group of 77 developing countries have also lodged a formal complaint against Canada and a handful of other nations for failing to file progress reports that were required under the rules of the Kyoto treaty.
All of the opposition parties have sent representatives to the conference to make it known that Canadians don’t all agree with Ambrose’s plan. However, it’s likely they will have to promote their positions out of the limelight, without the opportunity to speak officially at the meetings.