Northern Lights?

4 December 2010

ECO thought that leaving the gray winter chill for sunny weather here in Cancun, 
Canada wouldn’t want to hide behind an 
Umbrella.
Japan certainly has been taking a lot of heat this week for its objection to a second Kyoto commitment period. But Canada has been under wraps – until yesterday, when the Executive Secretary yanked the umbrella away and exposed their true position to daylight. For it seems Canada has been opposing a Kyoto renewal behind closed doors.
Canada has been silent about other things too. Last week, evidence surfaced that the Canadian government is running a coordinated advocacy strategy to stall climate change and energy policy in Europe and the US, the country whose energy path Canada claims to follow. And last month, Canada’s unelected Senate skipped debate and blocked major climate change legislation passed by the elected House of Commons.
It has not stopped at blocking policy, though. Canada is also obstructing science. Climate research funding has been slashed. Government scientists have been gagged. The country’s premier Arctic research vessel is being rented out for oil exploration.  Instead of falling, Canadian emissions have risen 30% since 1990. Canada was the only country to adopt targets under the Kyoto Protocol and then openly renounce them. Canada was the only country to return from Copenhagen last year and immediately weaken its emissions reductions targets. Canada’s government has made a habit of bad faith.
The citizens of Canada, however, consistently support climate action and the Kyoto Protocol in national polling. The environment has frequently been highlighted as the most important issue to Canadians, even while their government was wrecking it.
And ECO can’t avoid the thought that Canada might be better off with its delegation asleep on the beach.