Harper in the way, Australia changing course

Stephen Harper continues to show the world that the government of Canada is not interested in setting binding targets to reduce GHG emissions. This most recent declaration took place at the Commonwealth summit in Uganda this week. All of the 53 Commonwealth nations were in favour of binding targets expect for Canada and Australia. The push for binding charges was lead by Malta, a small island county who may cease to exist if sea waters rise due to inaction on climate change.

The good news this weekend is that this will be the last international meeting that Australia will be standing next to Harper (and Bush) against binding emission targets. John Howard, who has led Australia for over 10 years suffered a major defeat in a federal election yesterday. And what was the major platform of Kevin Rudd, the man who won this resounding electoral victory? Commitment to Kyoto and binding emissions reductions. If only we could be so lucky here in Canada. Despite Canadians insisting that the environment is the most important issue for voters, there has been little resistance from Canada's other political parties. Hopefully, that will change soon.

The spokesperson for Harper at the conference said that they want to continue to push for the targets agreed upon at the recent APEC summit, which are "aspirational" targets for 2050. Imagine if the Allies had said that "We would certainly like to get rid of Hitler?" rather than taking action.

Harper's continued efforts against real emission reductions will soon make its way to the world stage. Almost every county in the world will be in Bali in December to discuss the follow up to the Kyoto accord, which ends in 2012. I guarantee that Canada will be one of the few nations, along with the US and China, that are against the further strengthening of emission targets. Harper has managed to take Canada form a world leader, to one of the most stubborn opponents to taking action on the greatest crisis the world has ever faced. All in the name of protecting the Tar Sands.

Canada needs a new leader, so our planet can survive. But hey, at least we'll have 5% GST soon.

Nuclear Harper

Stephen Harper is certainly making his positions regarding climate change and energy clear to Canadians to week.
First, Harper announced that he would delay the opening of the House of Commons until the Throne Speech in October. What this means is that any unpassed pieces of legislation will "die on the house floor". Even though Canadians have repeatedly said that the environment is at the top of their priorities, the revised Bill C-30 - The Clean Air and Climate Change Act (fresh with the efforts of the three opposition parties... who as I've said before represent a majority of Canadians) will be lost. Therefore, this brings the total accomplishments of Canada's New Government to two items: 1) canceling and repackaging the programs of the previous government, while making them more expensive for Canadians and 2) shoveling a small amount of money to the provinces to deal with the problem. Canada needs a strong national program so that all emitters are treated equally. The main argument for the Conservative government has always been that the Kyoto Targets are too steep. However, in a preliminary meeting held in Vienna recently to discuss post-Kyoto targets the targets discussed were 25%-30% below 1990 levels by 2020. This represents a 15%-20% more than Kyoto. Therefore, wouldn't the best plan to avoid the "economic collapse" the Conservatives have continually warned us about be to start reducing emissions and encouraging new technology now???

On top of Harper's negligence regarding GHG Emissions on the domestic front, he is also secretly considering committing Canada to join George Bush's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership on the international front. Press stories earlier this week show that although nothing has been said to parliament or the public, Harper has been working on committing Canada to this group for over a year. The basics of this group would give Canada stronger markets to export its Uranium, however, it would commit Canada to taking the spent radioactive fuel back for storage within Canada. The main reason for this is that the US is running out of room in it's existing nuclear waste storage facility (Yucca Mountain).

Despite how Harper's plan to turn Canada into a storage bin for Bush's radioactive pollution might turn your stomach, the biggest concern about Nuclear energy is the amount of water it uses. According to the Sierra Club of Canada, Nuclear reactors use at least 2.3L of water per kWh. With the Great Lakes at an all time low and much of North America suffering from severe drought, we need to take care of our fresh water sources the best we can. Although Nuclear reactors do emit less GHG's, Canada does not need to destroy its last great resource, fresh water, in order to reduce emissions.

Here in Nova Scotia, there has been a "No-Nuclear" act since the 70's. We need to make sure it stays that way, so that when the change from coal happens, that it's to renewable energy, not nuclear energy.

"Canada's New Government" fails again

Once again, Steven Harper's Conservative government has acted against the wishes of the vast majority of Canadians by failing to issue a credible plan to meet Canada's international obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. In response to a Liberal private member's Bill calling for the government of Canada to table a credible plan to meet the Kyoto guidelines, the Conservatives issued a 37 page "excuse of why government is not willing to take appropriate action to help protect the future of Canadians and the planet", said the Climate Action Network. The Climate Action Network is a joint effort by major environmental and sustainability groups formed to provide a unified voice regarding climate change issues in Canada. The governments plan is still based on "intensity" targets (see GWB's Grand Plan - June 7th) rather than hard caps on emissions, and will leave Canada more than 30% above its Kyoto Targets. All three federal opposition parties voted in favour of this private members bill, (which represents more than 60% of the voting public), so Harper can hardly say that he is acting in the interests of the majority of Canadians. Harper claims to be protecting Canadians from economic collapse, however, he is really only protecting the unbridled pillaging of our natural resources by foreign companies (Alberta), and our burning of dirty fossil fuels from other countries (Nova Scotia).
See the press release from the Climate Action Network - here

In other news:

• Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks to lowest area ever - article
  
• Making Global Warming Profitable - stories of substantial economic success in countries that are aggressively reducing their GHG Emissions - article
  
• Glace Bay Wind Farm Commissioned - Province's second larges wind farm is now online. Note comments from the Premier saying "The future of power is renewable energy", and that the Province has the policies in place for to create "green economy". How ensuring the profitability, monopoly status and marketshare of the Canada's 5th largest emitter creates a "green economy", I'm not quite sure. -article