"Kyoto is dead"
GLOBE AND MAIL columnist Jeffrey Simpson on the Kyoto agreement:
Kyoto is dead because 35 of 163 countries that signed the original accord won't collectively meet their greenhouse-gas targets. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said as much, and he's as keen on combatting climate change as any major world leader.And that column was written before this Ipsos-Reid poll came out. And since 68 per cent of Canadians say "they don't know any of the details" of the accord, I believe it is time to seek better options for the environment.
Canada, of course, is arguably the worst offender among the signatories. Canada was supposed to have reduced its carbon emissions by 6 per cent. Instead, they have grown by 24 per cent, according to United Nations figures, and by 35 per cent, according to the Harper government.
Either way, it's been a terrible record, compiled under the Liberals who are now waxing indignant that the Conservatives are admitting what the Liberals were too cowardly to admit: Canada hasn't a hope of meeting those original targets.
