Global warming will be a hot election issue

At a recent UN General Assembly, Secretary General Kofi Annan said the world should, “wake up� and noted countries that are capable of doing something about global warming are not.

Troubling issues such as Climate Change will only become political manifesto if citizens the world over, continue to force their elected representatives to make a stand on the increasingly hot topic.

Canada, at last count, had the second highest emissions rate in the world. Only Belgium pumps out more sulfur dioxins and other noxious pollutants into the atmosphere than we do. The previous Liberal government signed the Kyoto Protocol calling for achievable targets to be met by certain dates. The current Conservative administration has completely ignored Kyoto in all but name – choosing instead to pull their ‘Clean Air bill� out of the rabbit hat.

Environment minister, Rona Ambrose’s words to a bewildered world audience were, “Canada remains strongly committed to Kyoto...� Ambrose went so far as to say her government looked, “forward to making a significant contribution to the global effort to fight climate change.� Ambrose told the media a week prior to this that Canada was, “on track to meeting all our obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, but not the targets.� What possibly could be more important that the targets – isn't that the point?

During the last federal election the Conservatives never uttered the word Kyoto – it was forbidden. Now we are expected to believe Ambrose? The world doesn't. A recent study by German-based Germanwatch, said Canada lags lowly at 51 out of 56 countries for performance rating on climate change. Who are we to believe? At the UN Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, the only thing Canada brought home besides a global “black eye� was an armload of “fossil of the day� awards to mark Ambrose's abysmal performance.

Canada came under fire from France when environment minister, Nelly Olin, said she was “shocked� that Canada reneged on its commitment to Kyoto. Olin said she was “extremely disappointed, extremely disappointed, because we worked for years with....Stephan Dion, (former environment minister), on a policy that seemed coherent,� she told the conference.

France’s environment minister predicted Canadians will challenge the Conservative policy when the next election rolls around. Olin also stated she thought it was wrong for a country to use economic deterrent as an excuse to avoid Kyoto or other climate change policies, noting there is no proof to date that countries on track to meet Kyoto commitments are experiencing any decline in economic growth.

Under Kyoto, Canada was committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent from 1990s levels by 2012, but in fact, our emissions have risen by 35 per cent. French President Jacques Chirac publicly chastised Canada for going back on its word to commit to Kyoto. Ambrose, in typical political style, promptly blamed the previous government for not creating a framework to meet out environmental obligations.

Ambrose’s actions, or lack thereof, will come back to haunt her during the next election. Canada has suffered a terribly embarrassing blow on the world stage, and the environment minister has all but refused to talk to media about the critical situation.

A recent public opinion poll suggests the leaderless Liberals have crept ahead of the reining Conservatives. The Decima poll found that 33 per cent of respondents favoured the Liberals compared to 31 per cent for the Tories, 15 per cent for the NDP and 10 per cent for the Green Party.

It’s a safe bet the environment will be the critical topic during the next election and the Conservatives, who, through inaction and arrogance, will suffer serious losses at the ballot boxes as a result.