Honorable Jim Prentice
Office of the Environment
10 Wellington Street, 28th flr,
Gatineau, Québec
K1A 0H3
Dear Mr. Prentice:
A recent Globe and Mail story (April 28, 2009) outlined an Environment Canada study which suggested that our country’s GHG emissions rose by 4 percent in 2007, and that oil, gas and mining emissions rose by 57 percent between 2004 and 2007.
Once again, Canada has the worst GHG emissions record in the developed world.
I’m discouraged by Canada’s slow, dishonorable slide on the international stage because of our country’s obstructionist climate policies. I’m ashamed that we’ve been named 2008’s Colossal Fossil as the world’s worst climate change villain by more than 400 NGOs in Poznan, and that the Climate Action Network places Canada in the same league as Saudi Arabia.
But it’s not only environmental groups who are condemning Canada. In article entitled “Canada takes its Lumps at Poznan,” Embassy magazine offered this analysis of Canada’s role:
“At the most recent round of international climate change negotiations, Canada once again emerged as a leading “spoiler,” attracting scorn and condemnation from both environmentalists and foreign delegations alike.”
The situation is desperate. Climate scientists around the world convened an emergency session in Copenhagen in March because climate change is occurring faster and harder than even the most dire predictions from three years ago.
When is Canada going get the message to start to transition to a low-carbon economy? Part of the problem would seem to be that Environment Canada scientists are no longer allowed to speak to the media without your office’s permission. In fact. Don MacIver had to resign his chairmanship from the World Meteorological Organization’s Climate Conference-3 because your office would not allow him to attend the Poznan climate summit.
In recent weeks, you’ve repeatedly suggested that Canada now has an climate ally in Washington in President Obama, but frankly, your words ring hollow. The Conservative stimulus package included very little money for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. It seems to be designed to lock us into a fossil-fuel economy for another generation.
If your government really does plan to take its environmental responsibilities seriously, then I would ask you for a show of good faith. Take the muzzles off Environment Canada’s climate scientists and convene a news conference so they can speak directly to Canadians, and explain why we need to make climate change the government’s #1 priority.
Regards,
Richard Levangie
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
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