Prime Minister Harper has officially killed Canada’s commitment to Kyoto.
At the end of 2005, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions were 33 percent above the Kyoto commitment. It is now widely understood that, because of inaction on greenhouse gases over the last decade, Canada’s emissions cannot be brought to the level required under the Kyoto Protocol within the compliance period, which begins on January 1, 2008, just 77 days from now.
And perhaps most shocking of all, I agree; Kyoto is Dead
It is to late to archive our Kyoto targets, a decade of inaction by the Liberals and now the Conservatives (thought to be fair at least the Liberals accepted the science from the beginning) has ensured our failure in meeting the targets. While Kyoto may be unattainable, there is no excuse for not introducing effective legislation to reduce the absolute levels of greenhouse gases. So far the Conservatives have failed to do that.
Right on.
At the same time, of course, Harper has not “officially killed” Canada’s commitment to Kyoto — only Parliament can do that. Stephane Dion can avert that fate by ensuring every Liberal MP votes against the Throne Speech next week, alonside New Democrats and Bloqistes, who have committed to do so.
If Canada pulls from Kyoto round 1 next week, it will be a joint action by Harper (through aggression) and Dion (through weakness).