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December 8, 2005: New Today's News

Canada

Martin raps U.S. over Kyoto accord

The time is past to pretend that any nation can stand alone,' PM tells conference

 

By JANE TABER and MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

GLOBE AND MAIL

Thursday, December 8, 2005

 

MONTREAL, TORONTO -- Prime Minister Paul Martin chastised the United States yesterday for refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

Addressing the beginning of the high-level talks at the UN's climate conference in Montreal, Mr. Martin did not name the Bush administration in his speech, but he left little doubt about the meaning of his remarks.

"Climate change is a global challenge that demands a global response, yet there are nations that resist, voices that attempt to diminish the urgency or dismiss the science, or declare, either in word or in indifference, that this is not our problem to solve. Well, it is our problem to solve," he said in prepared remarks.

More than 150 countries have endorsed the Kyoto accord to limit greenhouse gases, but in the industrialized world, only the United States and Australia refuse to ratify it.

Mr. Martin mentioned the United States to reporters later, but in his speech he said those who dispute the need for action on climate change are in denial.

"The time is past to pretend that any nation can stand alone, isolated from the global community, for there is but one Earth and we share it, and there can be no hiding on any island, in any city, within any country, no matter how prosperous, from the consequences of inaction," he said.

Mr. Martin's remarks were well received at the climate talks, which have attracted more than 10,000 participants, more even than the 1997 conference in Japan, where the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated, and many of the delegates gave the Prime Minister a standing ovation.

Although Canada has been warmly praised internationally for ratifying Kyoto in the face of U.S. opposition, the country's record on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions has been far shabbier than that of the United States, which is frequently vilified over its record on climate change.

Canadian greenhouse-gas emissions have risen about 24 per cent since 1990, a reflection of Canada's strong growth and booming energy exports. Under Kyoto, Canada has to cut its total by 6 per cent. U.S. emissions, however, are up only 13 per cent since 1990.

The senior U.S. delegate at the climate talks, Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global affairs, did not respond to Mr. Martin's attack in her remarks to the conference, but praised U.S. accomplishments on climate change.

She said U.S. carbon emissions were cut 1 per cent between 2000-03, while its economy grew by $1.2-billion (U.S.)

"We lead the world in funding climate science, $2-billion this year," she said. She added that the country is working on better nuclear-power plants and is spending $3-billion to develop energy sources that spew out less carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

She also praised as "constructive and effective" a highly criticized partnership on climate change that the United States has organized with Australia, India, China and several other Asian countries. Many environmentalists say the partnership, which doesn't have mandatory emission cuts, is an effort to undermine Kyoto.

Although it hasn't ratified Kyoto, the United States is allowed to participate in the climate talks because the Clinton administration signed the protocol.

Mr. Martin's appearance at the UN conference came in the second week of the eight-week federal election campaign.

He donned his prime ministerial hat for the conference, and, careful not to mix election business with government business, reporters covering the campaign were driven to the conference site, Montreal's Palais des Congrès, in buses paid from the conference budget.

On returning to the hotel, they were back in buses paid for by the Liberal Party. Media outlets pay the parties for seats on the buses and planes during campaigns.

Mr. Martin's Liberals have complained bitterly about the timing of the winter campaign, citing the conference as something that might be adversely affected.

But instead of being a drawback, Mr. Martin was given a huge platform in which to talk about both domestic politics and environmental policy.

At the climate talks, a long list of speakers, from UN agencies to ministers from individual countries, called for more action against global warming.

One of the most passionate was French President Jacques Chirac, who participated in the conference via video. He called climate change a "brutal and urgent reality" that he viewed as "the greatest threat hanging over the future of humankind."

He said scientists have accumulated so much evidence about global warming that it "can no longer be seriously challenged" and the international community "expects us to take bold decisions commensurate with the challenges at hand."

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Topic(s): climate news, Energy News, Political News, Poor Performers, science news

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