Canadian government urged to cooperate in Copenhagen climate talks
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Canada's Green Party on Monday urged the government to adopt a positive and cooperative attitude towards global climate change talks in Copenhagen next month.
Labeling Canada as the "rule-breaking nation," the party said it was frustrated at Prime Minister Stephen Harper's remarks on the topic at the Singapore Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting earlier this week.
At the meeting, Harper insisted on binding commitments for all countries to cut emissions as a precondition for Canada to do so. Harper also said he was not going to Copenhagen unless leaders of other countries also attend.
The Copenhagen talks are expected to discuss a legally binding climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, whose basic principle is that although both developed and developing countries have responsibilities to cut emissions, the poorer countries have no binding targets.
"If everyone is not included, you set up the possible risk that certain countries will gain economic advantage from being included or not included, so the burden is much lighter if we all contribute. If some contribute or some contribute disproportionately, then the economic risk for others becomes enormous," Harper said at the APEC meeting.
Since coming to power in 2006, Harper has rejected the Kyoto Protocol as impractical, saying Canada cannot realize its goals. The Conservative government's made-in-Canada plan has been criticized as not being ambitious enough and far below Canada's goal under the Kyoto Protocol.
"Prime Minister Harper is continually insisting on rules for everyone, and yet Canada is the one that has been breaking the rules," Green Party leader Elizabeth May said in a press release Monday.
The Green Party urged the Canadian government to take the Copenhagen climate negotiations seriously and attend with an attitude of cooperation for the good of the planet, the press release said.
"Canadians deserve the truth. Canada's government is not part of the solution. It is part of the problem. We are facing a global crisis, and our leaders are pointing fingers and hiding behind faulty economic arguments," it continued.
According to the World Wildlife Fund Canada, Canada had the seventh highest volume of green house emissions in the world, and its per capita emissions were the third highest, coming only after Australia and the United States.
