Saturday, September 03, 2016
China's In, So Is the USA. Whither Canada?
The Paris global climate agreement got a big boost this weekend when the Chinese government agreed to ratify the agreement. Barack Obama has pledged the US will also ratify the deal.
Between them, China and the US account for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That number is critical because the deal only comes into effect when at least 55-nations representing at least 55% of global emissions sign on.
Guess who hasn't reserved a place at the table yet? Canada. While the Chinese and the Americans were shaking hands and patting each other on the back, Justin Trudeau said, well he's just not ready to come on board, not yet. All our prime minister would say is that it's a "hot item" on his agenda. Yippee.
Mr. Trudeau’s government initially pledged rapid movement, with a promise to meet provinces and territories within 90 days of the Paris agreement signing. That meeting took place in March.
Ottawa has since sought to work with premiers to fashion a Canada-wide plan for combatting climate change. Earlier this year, sources told the Globe and Mail the Trudeau government wanted to reach a deal within six months of the March meeting.
But Mr. Trudeau has encountered resistance from places like Saskatchewan, whose premier Brad Wall has threatened to take Ottawa to court if it imposes a carbon price on provincial utilities. Territorial leaders have also said their constituents already pay too high a cost for energy, and cannot bear any increases.
Data obtained by the Globe this summer showed that if nothing changes, current federal and provincial climate policies will allow carbon emissions to soar 38 per cent over than the national target for 2030.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I'm not in favour of carbon pricing as practiced in BC. Just drive past any car dealer and look at the big trucks that are selling so well. Pull into a gas station. For carbon pricing to actually work it has to be so painful that V8 engines become unaffordable. Here in BC we have a small carbon tax which seems to be used to subsidize the natural gas sector which we will further subsidize through BC Hydro rate increases.
What would really help is to stop subsidizing the oil and gas industries. As Bloomberg posted, Fuel Subsidies Are the World's Dumbest Policy
An historic, landmark, global warming treaty with no targets? Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. More photo-op distraction. Obomba's smiling face to fool Americans into voting Hillary the fracking queen. (Somehow Trump is less dishonest claiming global warming is a Chinese conspiracy theory.)
Not surprising this was too rich for Junior's blood. His priority was to combat "protectionism" and promote the TPP.
I guess Junior has a point. The TPP will be a WMD on Western jobs which cause the global economy to collapse into fascist revolutions and world war. So global warming is not really a priority...
Post a Comment