Liberal Environment Critic Gerard Kennedy today welcomed the successful outcome of United Nations negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, but criticized the Harper government for its continued unwillingness to commit to necessary climate change targets, and its poor showing on the international stage.
Mr. Kennedy attended the Cancun conference for five days as Official Opposition Environment Critic and attended over 35 sessions and meetings, including intensive meetings with 50 representatives from 15 countries in Mexico City.
“Mexico and the conference Secretariat should be congratulated for creating an open and trusting environment,” said Mr. Kennedy. “That allowed the maximum goodwill to get expressed and the behaviours of less constructive parties to be limited.”
Unfortunately, even this positive result — including a Green Fund designed to assist developing countries while keeping other vital issues on track — still leaves a tremendous amount to be done before a final agreement can be achieved.
The Harper government, represented by interim-Environment Minister John Baird, won six “Fossil Award” prizes — more than any other country — for its obstructive behaviour, and also walked away with the overall Colossal Fossil of the conference for the 4th year in a row, earning the nickname as the country we’ve come to know as “Can’t-nada”. At the very end Canada deferred its objection to continuing the Cancun process to next year’s discussions scheduled for South Africa. During the conference, Canada was ranked as 54th out of 57 countries evaluated for their willingness to address climate change.
“Canadians used to ask themselves ‘how is Canada helping?’ now it’s ‘how much harm has Canada done?’“ Mr. Kennedy concluded. “Canada can and must do better.”
In Cancun, Mr. Kennedy worked with Canadian volunteers to produce a daily “Where’s Canada” newsletter, and articulated to delegates an alternative Canadian position including a second-round agreement for the Kyoto process, taking independent action to protect Canadians’ interests – not waiting for the U.S. or any other country, and presenting the elements of a national plan to immediately start meeting ambitious targets.
