Environment
Harper and the Conservative government criticized the Kyoto Accord on measures to fight against global warming, saying that the economy would be crippled if Canada was forced to meet the Accord's timetable to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Harper considered the objectives implemented by Canada to meet its goals unrealistic and later further criticized the accord which did not set any targets for the world's biggest polluters.
The government's Clean Air Act was presented on October 19, 2006. Its main focus was to reduce greenhouse emissions to about 45-65% of the 2003 levels. The goal was set for the year 2050 with a decrease of greenhouse emissions starting in 2020. There were also regulations set for vehicle fuel consumption for 2011, while new measures would be set for industries starting in 2010. while oil companies would be forced to reduce emissions for each barrel produced. Additional targets and measures were introduced by Environment Minister John Baird in 2007 including fuel-efficient standards in which auto industries would comply. One of the plans also mentioned that over 700 big-polluter companies, including oil and gas, pulp and paper, electricity and iron and steel companies, will have to reduce green-house emissions by six percent from 2008 to 2010 and will have to report data on their emissions every year, on May 31.
In the 2007 Throne Speech, the government officially abandoned the Kyoto objectives in favor of their previous policies and accords with Asian and Pacific countries in which Harper joined the US-led Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. On September 24, 2007, the United States, China, Japan, India, South Korea and Australia, several among them being the biggest polluters.
Critics including the World Wildlife Fund said that the greenhouse emissions in 2020 will still be higher than the 1990 levels, while Canada will not meet Kyoto targets before 2025, 13 years after its objectives. High-profile figures including David Suzuki and Former US Vice-President Al Gore also criticized the plan as being insufficient.
Opposition members led by Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez tabled bill C-288, which would force the government to respect the measures of the Kyoto Accord and forced it to present its measures within 60 days. The bill passed third reading on February 14, 2007, 161-113 but the government said that it would not comply.
The Harper government also has drawn sharp international criticism for its stance on asbestos which is heavily mined in Quebec. In 2011, Canada continued to oppose adding the chrysotile form of asbestos to the Rotterdam Convention, a treaty that would require exports of chrysotile to developing countries to contain warnings of carcinogenicity.Canada refuses to allow chrysotile to be added to Rotterdam Convention in 2011
Read more about this topic: Domestic Policy Of The Harper Government
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