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Kyoto: Let's Do It

October 25, 2002
By Jan

Earth is being denied its well-being by arguably the world's most powerful man. The environment is the No. 1 ethical issue of this decade. U.S. President George Bush doesn't seem to realise this. Thankfully, Jean Chretien does.

Jean Chretien's decision to ratify the Kyoto Accord has businesspeople waging war and environmentalists doing the happy dance. While many European countries are ratifying their part of the 1997 accord, the same is not true for the United States. Last year Bush withdrew from the process, citing that the country's energy needs are more important than reducing greenhouse gases.

At least Canada is beginning the process to become greener. Prime Minister Jean Chretien's decision to ratify Kyoto has been a long time coming, but it's not going by without receiving criticism from the oil industry, as well as the Alberta government. Conservative Ralph Klein's massive "Why Alberta Opposes the Kyoto Protocol" campaign, which involves TV, radio, and newspaper exposure, is a $1 million plus response to Chretien's announcement. If the Alberta government is concerned about losing money to Kyoto, then why are they wasting it on an ad campaign?

Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm is more supportive of Kyoto than Klein. "I have no problem with ratifying the Kyoto Accord. The problem is that Jean Chretien doesn't have a workable plan in place that is going to allow us to do that without tremendous economic impact." This is why Hamm wants his first minister's meeting, where the Premiers and the Prime Minister can "work out what we call a workable plan so that any one region of the country will not be disproportionately impacted by meeting the Kyoto requirements."

For Alberta, a hit to the oil industry is the last thing it wants. According to some, the ratification of Kyoto shouldn't hurt the economy too much. And, if all levels of government are innovative enough, they can make money from Kyoto, while reducing greenhouse gases. Halifax West MP Geoff Regan feels that there are solutions to be found that will help to reduce the output of harmful emissions.

"From my point of view in Halifax, one of the things I'll be interested in is seeing how the public feels, about increasing investment in transit for example, and improving the system we have. Moving people in our urban area is a priority for them...To me, I think it's very important in terms of our environment, in terms of our commitment to Kyoto and global warming, and in terms of our health. I mean, who ever heard of having smog warnings in Nova Scotia?"

Unfortunately, all of us have now. It's solid evidence that Canada needs to ratify Kyoto. But what may be an even greater issue is that the U.S needs to ratify as well. The smog that causes Nova Scotia problems is "created in the Ohio River Valley, and the Eastern seaboard of the U.S.. It blows in this direction, because that's where the prevailing winds go." says Geoff Regan. Canada is doing its part, or at least starting the process, but without the most powerful and largest emissions producing country in the world following suite, it's going to be a tough job.