After a long hard pregnancy it seems Mother Nature has finally given birth to another environmentalist, albeit the runt of the litter. Prime Minister Steven Harper took his first baby steps while on a visit to Europe for the G8 meetings when he called climate change the biggest threat to the future of humanity.
The only problem with this is the fact that his proposal of intensity based green house gas reduction won’t necessarily lead to an actual reduction of greenhouse gas emission. This Bush league proposal is nothing more than smoke and mirrors and is designed specifically to fool the public into thinking that their government is doing something to reduce our emission level. Intensity based targets allow for an increase in emission levels with an increase in production levels.
Canadians are not likely to be fooled by such tactics and although it gives the President of the U.S and the Prime Minister of Canada some sound bites for the podium, to be touting this as a serious proposal at an international conference on behalf of Canadians is nothing short of embarrassing. Nations that are serious about reducing their emission levels have signed on and haven’t back out of the Kyoto agreement that actually calls for reductions of current levels.
It’s great to hear some of the buzz words coming from the Prime Minister.” Green energy super power” has a nice ring to it. Hopefully when he gets back to parliament we will see something tangible in the works. Investing in green technology research, development and manufacturing might just be the ticket to ride out the next election.
We have shipped all our manufacturing needs overseas to places like China, and then complain about their 500 new coal fired power plants. North American consumers are responsible for our tailpipe of emission even if that tailpipe runs all the way to China. By contracting the work out to developing nations it allows corporations to skirt environmental controls. Our trade policies will have to reflect our environmental policies in order for
Canada to reach green energy super power status.
In order to lower the actual emission that we are responsible for all over the world we have to keep our manufacturing base strong, environmentally and technologically sound through investment and we will have to protect our investment through strict trade policies that make green house gas emission reduction a priority. Free trade agreements have been bad for the environment and it’s time the Government of Canada owns up to its responsibility.
Jeff Armstrong is a freelance writer from Ontario. He has a labour studies certificate from McMaster University, he is a member of the CAW and a member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada. Jeff's interests include Occupational Health and Safety, the environment and the politics involved. Read other posts by Jeff Armstrong.
