Last night U.S. President Obama gave an Oval Office address about the BP spill, rightly pointing out that the bigger message it sends us is that we need to break our addiction to oil.
At the same time, the Quebec and Ontario Premiers began meeting in Quebec City, and both underlined the need to move ahead on regulating large polluters in the transition to a clean energy economy. They too are taking the lesson of the BP spill to heart.
Unfortunately, this continues to stand in stark contrast to what we are hearing from Ottawa. A British diplomat is the latest to push the boundaries of what is usually said and not said in those overly polite circles (following the Mexican President) by contradicting Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice who has an intentionally overly rosy view of progress on climate change.
The one line from the Oval Office address that stood out as the exact opposite of what the Canadian federal government believes is when Obama said this: "the one approach I will not accept is inaction."
Right now it seems that any hopefulness we have in Canada must come from provincial capitols. Let's see what comes out of the joint Ontario/Quebec cabinet meeting today, and what those governments will do to follow through quickly on ending our addiction to oil.
Matt Price
Policy Director
Environmental Defence
Showing posts with label Jean Charest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jean Charest. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Harper's Climate Isolation
Stephen Harper has made the political calculation that he can simply weather the criticism for being such a climate laggard. But, seemingly by the hour he appears more and more isolated - going against other countries, against the provinces, and against public opinion.
Yesterday, the Government of Quebec just slammed Ottawa for not doing enough as it laid out its own 2020 targets that go well beyond those of Harper.
Today, the Government of Ontario is telling Ottawa that the progress it is making shutting coal plants cannot be squandered by increases in tar sands pollution.
And, since Harper's favourite line these days is that he simply can't stop tar sands polluters until he knows what the Americans are doing, word comes that the U.S. is ready to show up in Copenhagen with a target to table - not a great target, but an indicator that they are moving, and so Harper's argument is a false one.
All this comes on the heels of a new poll showing four out of five Canadians are embarassed by Canada's lousy climate record.
Harper's government looks increasingly isolated on this issue, ignoring the plight of Canada's kids as the inheritors of a deteriorating atmosphere, and also ignoring that the next indusrial revolution - decarbonizing the economy - is already underway, with Canada bringing up the rear.
Matt Price
Program Manager
Environmental Defence
Yesterday, the Government of Quebec just slammed Ottawa for not doing enough as it laid out its own 2020 targets that go well beyond those of Harper.
Today, the Government of Ontario is telling Ottawa that the progress it is making shutting coal plants cannot be squandered by increases in tar sands pollution.
And, since Harper's favourite line these days is that he simply can't stop tar sands polluters until he knows what the Americans are doing, word comes that the U.S. is ready to show up in Copenhagen with a target to table - not a great target, but an indicator that they are moving, and so Harper's argument is a false one.
All this comes on the heels of a new poll showing four out of five Canadians are embarassed by Canada's lousy climate record.
Harper's government looks increasingly isolated on this issue, ignoring the plight of Canada's kids as the inheritors of a deteriorating atmosphere, and also ignoring that the next indusrial revolution - decarbonizing the economy - is already underway, with Canada bringing up the rear.
Matt Price
Program Manager
Environmental Defence
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Charest Steps Up
Nice to see Quebec Premier Jean Charest taking on Harper over Ottawa's dismal climate change performance. We just put out a small report summarizing Harper's positioning, coupled with a new take on their "just visiting" attack ads.
But, it would be nice to see Charest more explicitly drawing the connection between proposed pollution growth in the tar sands and what this means for Quebec (and Ontario) manufacturers under a nation-wide absolute cap on emisisons that we know we must adopt.
In short, if one sector is growing emissions under a hard cap, others are getting squeezed out. So, if reports about Harper giving special treatment to the tar sands are true - and nothing he or his Environment Minister Jim Prentice has said has given actual proof it's not - then Premier Charest should be even more agressive in protecting his province's interests. Indeed, though, that goes for all the other premiers too.
Matt Price
Program Manager
Environmental Defence
But, it would be nice to see Charest more explicitly drawing the connection between proposed pollution growth in the tar sands and what this means for Quebec (and Ontario) manufacturers under a nation-wide absolute cap on emisisons that we know we must adopt.
In short, if one sector is growing emissions under a hard cap, others are getting squeezed out. So, if reports about Harper giving special treatment to the tar sands are true - and nothing he or his Environment Minister Jim Prentice has said has given actual proof it's not - then Premier Charest should be even more agressive in protecting his province's interests. Indeed, though, that goes for all the other premiers too.
Matt Price
Program Manager
Environmental Defence
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