When it comes to the environment, there’s a chasm between what Canadians are ready to do and what our government is ready to do.
Just look at what the rest of the world is doing in the area of renewable, clean energy.
Global investment in renewable energy reached $150 billion last year. This year, China alone announced $250 billion in clean energy investment. Germany has already created more than 250,000 clean energy jobs. And in the U.S., the Obama administration is investing six times more per capita in clean energy research and development than we are.
In Canada, only one percent of our energy comes from wind and solar.
A week ago, a new consortium came together to try and convince the Harper government to finally invest in renewable energy and clean technology.
It was a consortium of banks, venture capitalists, accounting firms, and even oil companies. In the words one new technology consultant who’s part of the consortium: “Canada is falling gravely behind.”
A Liberal government would change course. We would restore Canada’s international climate change leadership, and build a cleaner, more prosperous new economy that will create the jobs of tomorrow and improve our quality of life.
We can do it—because right across this country, Canadians have already begun.
We recycle paper. We sort our trash. We’ve started community composts in our municipalities. We’ve replaced incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient lighting. We’ve installed new programmable thermostats to reduce energy consumption. In a few short months across Canada, people started using reusable shopping bags.
This is how far Canadians have come. This is how far our inventors and entrepreneurs have come. This is how far our cities and communities have come. And all of them want to go further.
A Liberal government will help get us there.
We’ll fight for a firm international agreement to reduce carbon pollution – to contain global warming within two degrees Celsius – and one that explores differentiated targets for developing countries.
We will implement a binding and verifiable cap and trade system – with hard caps leading to absolute reductions – that treats all provinces equally and covers all sectors of industry. And we’d make it compatible with other systems around the world for international carbon trading.
As part of the climate change fight, a Liberal government would make the most significant investment in clean energy, renewables, new energy sources, and energy efficiency this country has ever seen.
We will quadruple the proportion of renewable energy we use from sources such as solar and wind by 2017, make our buildings, transit systems, vehicles and electrical grids more energy efficient, and create the conditions which will allow businesses to develop and manufacture new products to meet higher standards.
We will adopt new strategies to clean-up our waterways and make our air cleaner, protect our boreal forests, preserve our biodiversity and protect endangered species.
We will also establish a Northern strategy that reaffirms Canadian sovereignty and works towards an international treaty to establish clear rules about Arctic use.
We will implement the toughest vehicle emissions standards in North America as part of a new Clean Energy Act. This Act will also streamline environmental assessments for clean energy projects, set mandatory federal clean energy procurement standards, and require the federal government to report annually to Canadians on the state of the environment.
These are the steps we can take right now—to change course, to restore Canada’s international reputation, and to build a cleaner, more prosperous new economy that will create the jobs of tomorrow and improve our quality of life.
But to take this step forward, we need a government that looks forward, not backward.
Days from now, the world will come together in Copenhagen for the next climate change summit. Our Prime Minister is reluctantly attending, but he’s going without a plan and without the desire to see Copenhagen succeed.
A Liberal government would fight for a firm international agreement to reduce carbon pollution, based on scientific facts.
We would be engaged in playing an important and imaginative role in helping emerging economies set differentiated yet significant targets—targets that are ultimately predictable and binding.
We would seek recognition for the major role that sub-federal jurisdictions play in this battle, and I would have hoped to see Canada accept our own responsibility to reduce carbon pollution, in line with other developed countries.
Unfortunately, Canada will do none of that in Copenhagen.
As Canadians, we have all we need in terms of knowledge, creativity, resources, research and development infrastructure to be champions in this new era.
What we need is a government to lead the way. A Liberal government will do that.
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President Obama will Attend Copenhagen – How Europe Reacted?
LARS LOKKE RASMUSSEN, the Danish prime minister, said he was “pleased that the American president will visit Copenhagen immediately prior to receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.” Mr. Rasmussen, whose country is hosting the conference, said a “strong commitment of the American president to the climate change issue is very valuable,” and he said the visit underlined “the will of the president to contribute to an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen.” At the same time, Mr. Rasmussen noted that the deal is not expected to be concluded until Dec. 18, more than a week after Mr. Obama is scheduled to visit. Mr. Rasmussen also noted that “leaders from almost half the U.N. member states have announced their participation at the summit” during its conclusion, on Dec. 17-18.
JOSE MANUEL BARROSO, the president of the European Commission, appeared to give only lukewarm approval to Mr. Obama’s decision to spend a day in Copenhagen. “I have made clear that we need as many world leaders present as possible,” Mr. Barroso said in a brief statement to the media. “I hope that others will follow suit,” he said.
ANDREAS CARLGREN, the Swedish environment minister, welcomed the visit by Mr. Obama, but he sounded a note of disappointment about the timing of the president’s visit during the conference. Mr. Carlgren said he had hoped that Mr. Obama would “come to the final days of negotiations in line with the Danish invitation to heads of states and governments.” Mr. Carlgren, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said “it is obvious” that the United States was preparing to make a “significant emission reduction.” Even so, Mr. Carlgren expressed disappointment that Mr. Obama was not ready to pledge deeper cuts ahead of the Copenhagen meeting. “I regret that the level of reduction to 2020 is lower than what could be possible for the United States to achieve in connection to earlier estimations,” Mr. Carlgren said.
REINHILDE VEUGELERS, a resident scholar at Bruegel, a think tank in Brussels, said it was “almost certainly the case that European leaders in favor of a strong treaty will be disappointed.” She said that many “Europeans had been hoping that Mr. Obama would push further and, for example, use more of the regulatory interventions at his disposal to make a very much improved offer on emissions. Ms. Veugelers said one effect in Europe of a disappointing offer by Mr. Obama ahead of the Copenhagen conference would be to strengthen the hand of countries like Germany and Poland, which have urged caution before putting an improved European offer on the table. Such an offer would “do little to create a virtuous circle of ever increasing offers of emissions cuts by other nations,” she said.
Autthor: Mr. Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
