What Many Canadians Don’t Know About Kyoto

February 21, 2007

The Kyoto Accord is a well-intentioned international agreement. Signed in 1998, its objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is commendable and desirable.

Yet we would have to shut down every fossil-based automobile, plane and train in the country to meet Canada’s Kyoto emission targets. OR, we could make a minimum payment of $10-BILLION in taxpayers’ money to foreign nations. Even if we came up with this cash, we would only meet half of our Kyoto target. Nor would we have done anything to reduce emissions either here in Canada or elsewhere.

How did we get so far off our Kyoto targets that we’d have to decimate the economy of our nation to comply?

First, Kyoto allows so-called “first world” countries, to “pay to pollute”. This means that instead of actually reducing our emissions, Canada, for example, would pay what Kyoto classifies as developing nations, such as China, for “emission credits”. Buying these credits is the basis of the Liberal Party of Canada’s environmental plan.

Second, throughout the past decade, Canada’s emissions didn’t drop … they skyrocketed! Kyoto committed Canada to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to six percent below 1990 levels by 2012. However, over 13 years of Liberal-style environmental policy, our emissions soared by 27 percent and the gap between Canada’s Kyoto target and our actual emissions grew to a whopping 35 percent.

We have some very real ‘catching up’ to do! Yet we haven’t wasted any time. Our Conservative Government has already taken aggressive measures to increase public transit use, increase renewable fuels and biofuels and reduce energy use.

And while there had been a great deal of criticism about timelines in the Clean Air Act, legislation introduced by our Conservative Government to take action on our environment, these comments were misleading as they focussed on the Bill’s long-term initiatives only.

What these critics won’t tell you is that the Clean Air Act’s immediate initiatives are set to launch as soon as the bill is passed and throughout the next three years. This is the most credible and tangible action ever taken by a federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as air pollution, something Kyoto does not address.

The Clean Air Act’s immediate initiatives (2007-2010) will amend existing, or create new, regulations for key industrial sectors. It sets new rules for off-road diesel engines, marine engines and recreational vehicles.

It tightens requirements for commercial and residential equipment to reduce 80 percent of energy used at home and 88 percent of energy used commercially. The manufacture and use of cleaning products, personal care products, paints, coatings and printing inks, which play a major role in smog formation, will also be regulated.

The Clean Air Act’s Short Term Initiatives (2010-2015) will put many of these new regulations into full effect and industry will be required to meet fixed cap reductions on air pollution and intensity reductions on greenhouse gas emissions. Medium-term Initiatives (2015-2025) and Long-term Initiatives (2025-2050) will simply finalize these measures.

It’s all part of a realistic approach that will protect our environment and the health of Canadians.