[URL=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/12/12/pol-kent-kyoto-pullout.html]CBC[/url]
[IMG]http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/topstories/2011/12/08/kentdurban-620.jpg[/IMG]
[release]Canada is formally withdrawing from the Kyoto accord, Environment Minister Peter Kent said Monday.
The decision to do so will save the government an estimated $14 billion in penalties, Kent said. The Conservative government says it has no choice given the economic situation.
Blaming an "incompetent Liberal government" who signed the accord and then took little action to make the necessary greenhouse gas emission cuts, Kent said he was formalizing what the Conservative government has been saying for weeks.
"Kyoto for Canada is in the past. As such, we are invoking our legal right to formally withdraw," Kent said.
The Kyoto Protocol, which expires next year, committed major industrial economies to reducing their annual CO2 emissions to below 1990 levels, while providing financial supports to developing nations to encourage them to follow suit eventually. Canada ratified the accord in 1997 but was not on track to meet its legally binding targets.
The Conservatives have committed to 17 per cent cuts from 2005 levels by 2020, a much lower threshold to meet than cutting below 1990 emissions levels.
[h=3]Canada 'abdicating' responsibilities[/h]NDP Environment critic Megan Leslie says Kent is fear-mongering about the consequences of staying in the Kyoto pact.
"What this is really about is the fact that our government is abdicating its international obligations. It's like we're the kid who's failing the class so we have to drop it before that happens," Leslie said.
The cost to staying in Kyoto is "absolutely" made up, she added.
Kent says Canada produces less than two per cent of global carbon emissions, Kyoto doesn't require major emitters like China and India to cut the amount of greenhouse gases they produce.
Canada had to notify the United Nations of its intent to withdraw from Kyoto by the end of the year or face additional cuts under the accord based on a five-year audit being conducted at the end of 2012. Canada would have been forced to buy expensive carbon credits to meet those targets.
The Conservative government has opposed any extension of the Kyoto Protocol framework in future agreements, arguing instead for a new international agreement that includes commitments from all major emitters, including those in the developing world.
The 194 nations attending the UN climate change summit in Durban, South Africa, agreed Sunday to start negotiations on a new accord that would put all participating countries under the same binding commitments to control greenhouse gases.
Kent returned to Ottawa from Durban Monday afternoon and made the announcement about two hours after landing.
He said he waited to formally pull out of the Kyoto Protocol because he'd promised a top UN official in Durban not to distract from the talks.[/release]
Bummer. Guess canada as a whole actually wasn't trying very hard though
We were just learning about this stuff today in class :v:
he looks pretty smug about it
Hahaha, they rack up fines by not complying with the protocol they signed, then say "Well, we're withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol, and since we're not members we don't have to pay."
Brilliant.
[quote]It's like we're the kid who's failing the class so we have to drop it before that happens[/quote]
Except that's a perfectly legitimate course of action when it's actually impossible to pass/meet the goals?
I really don't see that much of a problem
[QUOTE=Aman VII;33693687]I really don't see that much of a problem[/QUOTE]
Well, it proves the Kyoto Protocol isn't worth the paper it's printed on (which the Conservatives basically just wiped their asses with).
Does this mean I can burn old tires for heat?
Problem, tar sands.
We pulled out a long time ago by missing every single target
It's why Canada has been the biggest joke of every single Kyoto meeting
thanks Harper for tarnishing our international reputation even further, can't wait until we pull you out
Not surprising that the conservatives pull out.
[img]http://infobeautiful2.s3.amazonaws.com/kyoto_550.gif[/img]
Yeah, I can start to see why the conservatives want to pull out.
Stop tempting me Sweden.
Welcome to the dark side of environmental awareness, Canada! It's nice and warm here.
British Columbia is pretty environmentally friendly relative to the rest of the country. We have [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dockside_Green]Dockside[/url][url=http://www.docksidegreen.com/] Green[/url] anyway.
Kyotos interruptus.
That's one less country spazzing out about harmless old CO2(Protip: Plant some fucking trees when you cut some down), while the truly dangerous gases go unchecked and uncared for.
Now, to get the rest of the world to shut the fuck up about CO2 and work on the actually dangerous stuff. CO, HCs, ozone, acidic gases, nitrogen oxides, that sort of thing.
Really disappointed in Harper. We could have at least tried.
[QUOTE=TestECull;33694945]That's one less country spazzing out about harmless old CO2(Protip: Plant some fucking trees when you cut some down).[/QUOTE]
are you retarded
[QUOTE=OogalaBoogal;33695080]Really disappointed in Harper. We could have at least tried.[/QUOTE]
I don't think Harper doesn't believe that Canada is polluting.
[QUOTE=Devil Traitor;33695175]I don't think Harper doesn't believe that Canada is polluting.[/QUOTE]
You are probably right.
*sigh*
My 6-person group in my global issues course just did a presentation on this. Wow.
[QUOTE=Aman VII;33693687]I really don't see that much of a problem[/QUOTE]
how? they will just continue to dump large amounts of waste
we need you guys to be better than us, hat
I thought we dropped out like 5 years ago.
Well better now than never i guess.
[QUOTE=Devil Traitor;33695175]I don't think Harper doesn't believe that Canada is polluting.[/QUOTE]
He probably thinks it's made up and will destroy the world or some shit like that.
Actually, I looked it up and I was entirely correct.
[editline]12th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=TestECull;33694945]That's one less country spazzing out about harmless old CO2(Protip: Plant some fucking trees when you cut some down), while the truly dangerous gases go unchecked and uncared for.
Now, to get the rest of the world to shut the fuck up about CO2 and work on the actually dangerous stuff. CO, HCs, ozone, acidic gases, nitrogen oxides, that sort of thing.[/QUOTE]
The sheer oozing stupidity of this post actually managed to give my monitor the Black Plague.
To all the people blaming this on Harper, it's Chretien you should be blaming, HE'S the one who ratified us into the protocol and committed to reduce our outputs by, what was it, 5%-7%, then upped them in the remainder of his term by over 20%. This is the only thing left to do other than pay some kind of fines, and I'm sure right now we don't want to add to our deficit. It's not Harper who didn't try, it was Harper who was dumped with an impossible task by the Liberals before him who didn't try and is now being blamed for something he didn't do and couldn't improve.
To show you an example of how little the Liberals committed, here's a link to the CBC's website, showing the average CO2 output per captia of the country, it didn't start going down until ~2005, and saw a dramatic drop in 2008-2009, in the middle of a Harper minority. Granted, news sources then say it spiked in 2010, however it still illustrates that the Grits did fuck all to reduce our pollution output.
[url]http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/canada-kyoto/[/url]
NDP should of won the elections, only old conservative people voted for harper.
[QUOTE=wanksta11;33696701]NDP should of won the elections, only old conservative people voted for harper.[/QUOTE]
Give it about 10 or so years so all the old generations can die off. Then maybe we will get a decent government.
[QUOTE=DaCommie1;33696671]To all the people blaming this on Harper, it's Chretien you should be blaming, HE'S the one who ratified us into the protocol and committed to reduce our outputs by, what was it, 5%-7%, then upped them in the remainder of his term by over 20%. This is the only thing left to do other than pay some kind of fines, and I'm sure right now we don't want to add to our deficit. It's not Harper who didn't try, it was Harper who was dumped with an impossible task by the Liberals before him who didn't try and is now being blamed for something he didn't do and couldn't improve.
To show you an example of how little the Liberals committed, here's a link to the CBC's website, showing the average CO2 output per captia of the country, it didn't start going down until ~2005, and saw a dramatic drop in 2008-2009, in the middle of a Harper minority. Granted, news sources then say it spiked in 2010, however it still illustrates that the Grits did fuck all to reduce our pollution output.
[url]http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/canada-kyoto/[/url][/QUOTE]
This. Don't blame it all on Harper.
Yeah, from an outside perspective, it just seems like Harper is doing a smart move since they're not even trying and Canada has been apart of it for awhile so its actually not Harper to blame.
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