In his blog post today, Norman Spector asserts that Michael Ignatieff's announcement that the environment will be a major plank of his platform, and the methods which he will use, indicate that Michael Ignatieff has given up on an international solution to global warming, and will instead pursue national measures. He points to the lack of mention of Kyoto and the focus on the development of green technology.
The point of is, even under Kyoto, there should be national targets. In fact there were. It was for 6% below 1990 levels, for all the signatories. Furthermore, if any international successor to Kyoto is agreed to in Copenhagen, investment in green technology would be one of the methods governments would use to meet their targets under this international protocol.
In no measure then is Michael Ignatieff abandoning international agreements and protocols as solutions to climate change. Rather, it is Norman Spector, a Conservative, who is attempting, through faulty reasoning, to equate Stephen Harper's approach to the environment and Michael Ignatieff's.
However, Norman Spector's opinion to the contrary, it is still apparent that only one leader in Canada does not believe in international co-operation on the environment. And it's not Michael Ignatieff. Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers If you liked this post, please vote for my blog at Canadian Blogosphere
Kyoto does not equal "international co-operation", quite the contrary.
ReplyDeleteKyoto only applies certain developed countries representing just 20% of the GHG emissions. The majority of the international community, responsible for 80% of emissions, refuse binding targets.
Under Harper, Canada is demanding all countries, in particular the US, China and India adopt binding targets. In other words, he will only agree to a real international agreement, and Kyoto doesn't meet the test.
It was Harper who convinced Bush into agreeing to binding targets two years ago - Bush wouldn't agree to any specifics, but it was the first time the US agreed to idea of binding targets at all. Now Obama is considering a cap and trade scheme almost identical to Harper's 2006 environment plan. Look it up.
Just watch what happens in Kopenhagen - Harper, Obama and Kim (South Korea) will be leading the charge to a real international agreement. And the Liberals will try to jam the good news with another trumped-up wafer-gate or body bags scandal.