Canada’s Conservative government is waiting for others to act on climate change, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said less than 3 weeks before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to negotiate an agreement on climate change. Prentice said the further delay is necessary because Canada has to wait until a global treaty is reached, and a Canada-U.S. agreement on climate change is reached. *heavy sigh*
In contrast, American President Barrack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced yesterday that there is the need in Copenhagen to “rally the world” toward a solution to climate change. And it flies in the face of Denmark’s Prime Minister’s call to all developed nations to bring specific pledges to the table at Copenhagen next month.
It used to be that Harper et. al. had company in obstructing and procrastinating on climate change agreements, when John Howard of Australia and American President George Bush were on the international stage doing the same thing. In 2009, however, Bush and Howard are gone, but Harper remains, trying to sound a little more green while at the same time doing nothing about this crucial issue.
Dr. Tim Flannery, scientist and author of “‘The Weathermakers” and “Now or Never” has expressed his disappointment in Canada’s lack of leadership and disengagement in what former World Bank chief economist Lord Stern has called the most important global meeting of this century. He points out that Canada, one of the top 10 global polluters, is falling behind in achieving the targets scientists tell us we need to avoid runaway climate change.
The United States already has the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill passed by Congress and making its way through the Senate. Australia has passed its own climate change legislation. Flannery points out that enacting legislation on reducing emissions requires a substantial amount of legwork, and that it would behove the Canadian government to already be at work on it. Flannery says:
Time is exceedingly short for Canada with its very different economy and very different approach to this problem to be able to follow the lead of the U.S. in any meaningful way.
Click here to see Tim Flannery talking about Canada’s inaction on this issue.
Contact Minister Prentice and let him know that Canada needs to become a leader, not a laggard, on climate change. If you are a mom with a child or children 17 or under, go to Moms Against Climate Change to upload your child’s picture to remind Prime Minister Harper who he is representing in Copenhagen.
“Saving the planet isn’t about everyone doing everything. It’s about everyone doing something.” Laurie David, producer of An Inconvenient Truth