Prentice Says No Deal in Copenhagen

OTTAWA--The Green Party of Canada denounces continued discouraging statements from Environment Minister Jim Prentice regarding the outcome of the upcoming international climate change talks in Copenhagen, where the successor treaty to the Kyoto protocol is to be negotiated.

“The Copenhagen talks cannot be allowed to fail.  We have run out of time.  Already some of the effects of global warming we were hoping to avoid are inevitable and others are here now.  Our Canadian North is experiencing tremendous changes already,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.

May pointed to a statement by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday, warning that the world is on the brink of a catastrophic future of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves unless governments speed up negotiations on climate change.  Brown argued that agreement can not be deferred beyond the Copenhagen talks.

“Minister Prentice's statements are demoralizing to the talks, and not just because of the speculation about failure.  He continues to insist that Canada will maintain an obstinate stance in the negotiations.  Canada's insistence on special treatment means that success for Canada spells disaster to the world,” said Green Party Climate Change Critic Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu.

Minister Prentice spoke yesterday about the need for Canada to have special treatment due to its growing population and energy-intensive industrial structure.  He also spoke about the need to protect high-growth provinces, and to allow for growth of the tar sands.

Mugnatto-Hamu criticized these arguments.  “Not only are the tar sands one of the most polluting industries on the planet, they generate a product which would in itself condemn the planet if we continue to exploit it.  We need to recognize that dealing with climate change will mean keeping some fossil fuels in the ground, and the dirtiest and most energy intensive sources to extract should be the first to close.  Protecting them is extremely destructive to future generations,” she said.

On the need for special treatment for Canada, Mugnatto-Hamu was similarly dismissive.  “Our population growth just isn't unusual.  More than three quarters of the countries on the planet are growing faster than Canada.  Our growth is somewhat higher than some developed countries, that's true, but our emissions growth is faster still.  What's more, we have advantages Japan and the EU could only dream of – vast hydroelectric power sources already in place, and an enormous country filled with potential for wind, wave and tidal power.  We can put these resources to use and be a leader of a new global economy.  Instead we're whining about how hard it is.  If every country pleads for special treatment we will never make progress,” she said.

This last Monday, top UN climate change negotiator Yvo de Boer also expressed doubts that a fully formed treaty could be negotiated in Copenhagen.  However, Mr. de Boer has recently criticized the United States, the EU and the developing nations for not doing enough.  He has been pushing all nations to do more so that a structure may be negotiated during the Copenhagen talks with technical details to follow.

May and Mugnatto-Hamu support this goal.  “It's better not to have a deal at all than to commit to the targets Canada is proposing for the next decade,” said Mugnatto-Hamu.

“We need to have a treaty that will see emissions peak globally before the middle of the next decade and fall quickly afterward.  Emissions in developed countries like Canada should be falling now,” said May.

“Prime Minister Harper has been trying to kill the Kyoto process ever since he was elected,” said Elizabeth May.  “He doesn't take the crisis seriously.  When other developed countries are proposing 30% emissions cuts below 1990 levels by 2020, and Norway has announced it will cut by 40%, Canada is putting a paltry 3% on the table”.

The Green Party urges Canadians to demand that Canada be a leader rather than a laggard in the fight to preserve the planet from catastrophic global warming.

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