Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 10/23/2009 2:30:51 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Hope is vanishing that a historic deal to address climate change can be concluded in Copenhagen, and Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the best chance is for a political agreement that would pave the way for a treaty to be signed later.
But Canada will continue to insist that it should have a less aggressive target for emission reductions than Europe or Japan because of its faster-growing population and energy-intensive industrial structure, Mr. Prentice said in an interview Thursday.
Canadians must also recognize that any national emissions cap has to reflect differing conditions across the country so as not to punish high-growth provinces, he added. The minister has been consulting with provinces on a plan that would impose a cap on industrial emissions, but allow Alberta's energy-intensive, emissions-heavy oil sands to continue expanding.
“The Canadian approach has to reflect the diversity of the country and the sheer size of the country, and the very different economic characteristics and industrial structure across the country,” he said in a telephone interview.
However, Ottawa will not release its detailed climate-change plan, including its proposed emissions caps on large emitters such as oil sands and power plants, until there is more clarity on how the United States intends to proceed in global climate-change talks in Copenhagen in December, and on what an international treaty would look like, the minister added.
“Copenhagen is very significant factor in how matters will be approached continentally, and how matters will be approached domestically,” he said.
The Harper government has been criticized for undermining the global talks by insisting on smaller reductions for greenhouse gases than other developed countries, by demanding that emerging economies such as China and India agree to binding caps on their emissions, and by not tabling plan for meeting Ottawa's own targets.
Mr. Prentice insisted
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Good for you, Canada. You’re showing some common sense, which is more than I can say for our Putz in Chief.
“The Harper government has been criticized for undermining the global talks ....”
Allow me to be the first to say: “Blame Canada”. /irony
Besides, Obama has a bad track record in Copenhagen. He went there to tip the balance for Chicago in the Olympic voting, and came up empty. Maybe he will be gun shy about going there again and not getting his way????????
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Not sorry, we have a Conservative in office at the moment. Stephen Harper is an absolute gem. He, I believe, will NOT compromise his principles. The CO2 thingy is such bull$shit and he knows it. Remember, I KNOW this man personally. He has to deal with a lot of pressures especially from the United States right now. He didn’t have to deal with this with Bush. He’s such a good man. I pray for him to have God’s Wisdom. He is going to need it. But what I do know of him, he won’t compromise. He knows it will hurt our economy substantially and the CO2 bs thing is bullcrap all the way. Perhaps Canada will cease to be the butt jokes of every American. WE have a LOT to offer. CO
Exactly!
No one expects an economist/policy wonk/humble looking/piano playing/principled/common sense man to pull the rug out from under them!
I like Sarah. Every one said Stephen Harper couldn’t do it, but I met him once, and I saw his spark. I knew I could trust him. I feel the same way about Sarah.
JMH, unasked for opinion.
:-)
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