In the Courrier de Laval a few weeks ago, one of our readers, Mr. Campbell, criticized me for my lack of boldness and for being “soft on the environment!” With all due respect, Mr. Campbell, it was, after all, my first column.
For almost two weeks now, I have been at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, where over one hundred countries have gathered to prepare the follow-up to Kyoto.
Mr. Harper often refers to the fact that countries like China, India and Brazil “have done nothing under Kyoto.” This is entirely untrue. What is true is that richer countries have a responsibility of showing leadership and acting first because we are the ones who created the climate change problem and we have the means to address it. Even today, each Canadian produces 6.5 times more greenhouse gases than a person in China and 18 times more than someone living in India.
Yet Canada turned its back on the Kyoto Protocol and gave up on it without even trying. Canada’s performance in the fight against climate change is one of the worst in the world.
We are now in Bali, where Canada’s position is being denounced by the United Nations, ministers from several foreign countries, Premiers Jean Charest of Quebec and Ontario’s Dalton McGuinty, because the Harper government did not come here to work out an agreement with other countries, but rather simply to defend George W. Bush’s position.
Although we know that the impact of climate change – flooding, droughts, heat waves – is being increasingly felt, Mr. Harper is sticking his head in the sand.
In his letter to the Courrier de Laval, Mr. Campbell told me: “Be more daring, Mr. Guilbeault. There’s a crisis on!” After spending two weeks watching Canada attempt to destroy what the international community has taken 10 years to build, I think the message is better addressed to Mr. Harper: “Be more daring! There’s a crisis on!” @ST :Live from Bali
