Speak up about Kyoto

Canada still hasn’t ratified the Kyoto Protocol-yet its participation could make or break the deal. Want to have a say in the matter?
The federal government is currently holding consultation workshops on its Discussion Paper on Canada’s Contribution to Addressing Climate Change across the country. The input will be used to draft a plan for achieving Kyoto targets-and to decide whether Canada should in fact ratify it or not.

While the Montreal workshop took place Wednesday, it’s not too late to put in your own two cents. Steven Guilbeault, climate change campaigner for Greenpeace Canada, is encouraging people to send in their comments, even if it’s just a short e-mail saying they’re in favour of ratification.

“The more people we have saying they think this is an important issue, the more chance we have of the government actually doing something about it,” he says.

The discussion paper presents various options for achieving Kyoto targets: issuing emission permits, trading emission credits and targeted measures such as promoting public transportation and energy efficiency. However, this last option was deemed too costly on its own-although it was not even studied. Backed by Environment Canada studies and the results of various energy efficiency projects, Greenpeace is challenging many of the discussion paper’s assumptions.

Montrealers can have their say, and learn more, about the Kyoto process until June 24 by e-mailing the federal government at addresses found on the Web site of the National Climate Change Process Secretariat at www.nccp.ca. :

-Eve Krakow