Environmental Policy of The Harper Government - Meetings On Global Warming

Meetings On Global Warming

Harper cancelled a planned meeting on environment with European Union members in Helsinki, Finland, a meeting in which he was expecting to condemn the Kyoto Accord. Critics cited that Harper cancelled its meeting to avoid the criticism from EU officials. Harper's director of communications cited that his legislation agenda forced him to withdraw from the meeting. Furthermore, Ambrose attended a two-week November 2006 UN summit meeting in Nairobi, Kenya on the issue of the Kyoto Accord and it targets. Opposition members have claimed that her presence was an embarrassment for Canada.

In late 2007, Harper attended the Commonwealth Summit Meeting in Uganda. While Harper qualified the Kyoto as a mistake, he rejected claims that Canada was a holdout on climate change action. A deal was reached between the 53 members of the organization but blocked a proposal to exclude developing countries to comply to emission reductions. Harper will also attend the global conference on climate changes in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007. He commented that the deal in Uganda will set the stage for the meeting in Indonesia. John Baird who was also at the meeting mentioned that any agreements would have to include reduction targets in which the biggest polluters such as the United States, China and India must comply. A last-ditch agreement, after difficult discussions, was made late in the Summit which consisted of a two-year plan which would lead to a new treaty replacing the Kyoto Protocol as well as additional negotiations until 2009 that would force countries to set basic parameters of greenhouse reduction goals. Baird, while citing that the last-minute talks where a positive step for a future agreement but was disappointing about some off the agreement was watered down and that "the deal was almost completely stripped of any reference to numbers and targets that could have been the starting point for the discussion". Climate changes was also a topic at the G8 meeting in Japan in July 2008 where the organization had agreed to fix an objective on reducing greenhouse emissions by 50 cent by 2050 although it was not clear whether the goal was based on either 1990 or current (2008) levels.

In late November 2009 Stephen Harper decided that he would attend the climate change conference in Copenhagen, where a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol will be negotiated. Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice will be attending along with leaders of some opposition parties. Harper has claimed that Canada will, despite heavy criticism, not commit to any further emissions reductions and will stick to the current plan of 20% below 2006 levels by 2020, however Harper also said that the government would be willing to make minor changes to the plan. Where the changes would be made is currently unknown.