Five years ago, world leaders and environment ministers gathered in Kyoto, Japan to sign an accord on the control of greenhouse gases — including carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons. A review of the historical record (otherwise known as “Scott’s clippings file”) shows that this event was the culmination of years of negotiations, during which industrialized countries fought successfully to water down both the emissions targets and the deadline for meeting them.

These details are important to remember because the opponents of the accord are now arguing that these targets are unreasonable and arbitrary, something that is clearly not the case. Moreover, the suggestion that ratification is now being rushed is equally absurd, given the passage of five long years. If anything, the federal government has dragged its feet on ratification, as well as failing to take the preliminary steps necessary meet Canada’s target.

For the treaty to become international law, it must be ratified by at least fifty-five countries, which together produce 55 per cent or more of 1990-level industrial emissions. Because the United States isrefusing to ratify (not all that surprising, given theU.S. is a bit of a global pariah — not being a party to hundreds ofinternational protocols), Canada’s acceptance of the accord is pivotal.

The principal opposition to the Kyoto Accord is coming from the Alberta government, and its fully owned subsidiary, the Canadian Alliance. This might make me sound like the “eastern bastard” (the kind that Ralph Klein once suggested should be left to “freeze in the dark”), but isn’t it reasonable for a province that has become wealthy from fossil fuels to be asked to bear more of the responsibility for dealing with the impact of burning those fuels? Apparently, Klein doesn’t think so, having approved three new coal-fired generating plants since 1997 (this in a province with an abundance of cleaner-burning natural gas).

In addition to lobbying his fellow Premiers and company CEOs (under the moniker of the Canadian Coalition for Canadian Environmental Solutions), Klein has tried to claim that the federal government was interfering with provincial jurisdiction because (wait for it) CO2 emissions are “a natural resource”.

He has also enlisted former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed to act as “a voice of reason” in opposition to Kyoto (in contrast to Klein’s bluster and off-the-cuff remarks about “stopping cow farts”). “I got homework,” Lougheed recently told a reporter, in reference to a stack of Kyoto-related information on his desk. “Anyone who’s soundin’ off on Kyoto doesn’t know what the hell they’re talkin’ about.”, he argues.

Apparently, Lougheed’s homework has not included reading a discussion paper prepared in 1990 by the Energy Efficiency Branch of the Alberta Department of Energy back in 1990.

“It’s a blockbuster,” saysenvironmentalist Tooker Gomberg. “This document clearly shows that with an investment of $6.7 billion-dollars in energy efficiency, the province would realize an annual return of $2.2 billion-dollars – that’s essentially a rate of return of over 30 per cent per year on every dollar invested. I’m hoping that Premier Klein and his cabinet will join the world community by adopting the plan laid out in this report and going beyond Kyoto targets.”

According to Finance Minister John Manley, Klein need not worry in any event. Earlier this month, he indicated that the Kyoto Accord is not a legally enforceable contract. “The bailiff isn’t going to arrive toseize our property. There is no international Kyoto court that can seizeour assets or force us to pay a fine. We need to strive to live up tothe objectives, but we’re not putting ourselves in jeopardy by agreeinginternationally that we’ll try to do that.”

Meanwhile, reputed Prime Minister in waiting Paul Martin has promisedonly that he would “make every honest effort” to meet targets if he gets the keys to 24 Sussex Drive. He has also criticized his own government for moving too quickly to ratify (just how much slower could they go?).

Of course, his skepticism on Kyoto has nothing to do with any campaign donations that Martin may or may not have received (we don’t know, since he won’t release his list of donors).

Klein hopes that “another leader will convince his caucus to rescind thefederal government policy. We are hopeful that common sense will prevail … and if that leader is Paul Martin, hopefully he’ll be more receptive to the ideas of the premiers of this country and that we can arrive at a Canadian-made solution. I don’t know where he really stands. My sense is that he’s a little concerned about it, but how much he wants to say publicly, understanding his leader’s position on this, he might be on politically shaky ground.”

Come to think of it “on shaky ground” is a pretty good description for Klein’s position as well.

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Scott Piatkowski

Scott Piatkowski is a former columnist for rabble.ca. He wrote a weekly column for 13 years that appeared in the Waterloo Chronicle, the Woolwich Observer and ECHO Weekly. He has also written for Straight...