Posts Tagged ‘Kyoto Accord’
Stephen Harper answers questions from the Council on Foreign Relations
September 25, 2007 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper answered questions from members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based non-partisan think tank for international affairs.
Harper answered questions on a wide range of issues including climate change, the Kyoto Protocol, the differences between the US and Canada, and why America is ‘hated’ but Canada is not.
Harper said there is a high possibility of another minority government after the next federal election, but that Canada’s foreign policy would not change even if they achieved a majority.
I believe that when it comes to foreign affairs and global security, this is one area where you do what is right in the long-term interests of the country, your allies and the world … Under a minority government, this government’s foreign policy will not be any different than it would be under a majority government.
- Stephen Harper
Stéphane Dion on Kyoto, Afghanistan and confidence votes
Stéphane Dion responded to speculation the government may prorogue the current session of parliament in order to set a new agenda with a Throne Speech this fall. Any progress on un-passed bills would be lost, unless the government took steps to reintroduce the bills into the new session.
Dion asked the government to carry forward Bill C-30, The Clean Air and Climate Change Act, should they decide to prorogue. Dion also re-stated his demand that the Canada immediately notify its NATO allies that it will end its combat mission in Afghanistan when it expires in 2009.
However, Dion would not commit to defeating the government over these issues, or to supporting a Bloc Québécois threat to bring down the government over Canada’s role in Afghanistan.
Canada and climate change at the 2007 G-8 meeting
May 28 to June 8, 2007 – Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes Canada’s climate change plan to the G-8 meeting in Berlin, saying it can be an example to other nations of how a country can reduce greenhouse gases outside the Kyoto framework.
Harper pressed for an inclusive approach that would allow nations currently without Kyoto targets, who together produce 70% of the world’s greenhouse gases, to participate in an international agreement in the post-Kyoto round of negotiations.
Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, NDP leader Jack Layton, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, environmentalist David Suzuki continue their opposition to the government’s plan, saying Canada must meet its Kyoto targets beginning 2008.
Leaders at the G-8 agreed for the first time to work toward absolute cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.
Tory environment plan
April 26 to 27, 2007 – Environment Minister John Baird announces the government’s industry plan to regulate industry and reduce greenhouse gases.
NDP leader Jack Layton, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, environmentalist David Suzuki and former Vice President Al Gore criticize the plan.
Baird testifies to Senate on Kyoto Implementation Act
Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez and Environment Minister John Baird testify before the Senate environment committee considering Rodriguez’ private members bill C-28, the “Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act”.
The bill would force the government to meet Canada’s greenhouse gas emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol for the 2008-2012 commitment period.
The government opposed the bill, saying the Kyoto targets cannot be be met at this late stage without harming the economy. However the bill passed the House of Commons in February with the support of all three opposition parties.
Baird tabled a report backed by prominent economists called the Cost of Kyoto Bill C-288 to Canadian Families and Business claiming that meeting Canada’s Kyoto targets would harm the economy and cause a recession.
Stéphane Dion says Harper has hidden agenda to dismantle Canada
Stéphane Dion claims Harper has hidden agenda to dismantle Canada during an interview with CPAC’s Peter Van Dusen.
Dion continues to claim Canada can meet its Kyoto targets, despite saying the opposite in the past.
Can Canada Meet its Kyoto Obligations?
February 5, 2007 – Stéphane Dion, Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff and John Baird in Question Period on the Opposition motion to force the government to honor its Kyoto Accord commitments, and whether Canada’s Kyoto targets can be met.
In 2008, I will be part of Kyoto but I will say to the world I don’t think I will make it.
- Stéphane Dion
Links:
- National Post article: Stéphane Dion’s Kyoto Problem
Is Stephen Harper a climate change denier?
Stephen Harper and Stéphane Dion debate in Question Period on whether Harper is a climate change denier.
This government has made it clear, in the election campaign and since, that we accept the science and that’s why we’re acting.
- Stephen Harper
Harper’s policies to balance environment and economy
Stephen Harper describes his plan to make Canada a leader in environmental technology as the single largest industrial initiative in Canada’s history, promising details by the end of March 2007.
Harper’s plan favours domestic investments into new technologies over the purchase of carbon credits under the Kyoto protocol.
Its necessary to have environmentally sustained growth in the long-term. And there is a tremendous opportunity for Canada, with its energy super-power status, to use that to become a leader in environmental technology.
That will not be achieved … if the other parties had their way and simply transferred money overseas as a way of saying they are dealing with greenhouse gasses.
We have a plan that would put those investments here in Canada and apply Canadian technology to the reduction of greenhouse gasses.
We think in the long term that will balance economic growth and environmental sustainability.
- Stephen Harper
