|
Canadian Climate Coalition
La Coalition canadienne sur le climat
Media Release/Communiqué
For Immediate Release: January 17, 2006
Canadian Climate Coalition denounces Conservative
Party for ducking the issues
(Ottawa, Victoria, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Woodbridge, and Montreal)
The Canadian Climate Coalition, a nation-wide network of
groups working on climate action, sent a questionnaire to
all five major parties to verify positions on the Kyoto Protocol.
Only the Conservative Party refused to respond.
"The purpose of the survey was to determine future actions
to reduce greenhouse gases in Canada. Only the NDP and the
Green Party were prepared to state specific targets for future
action. The Liberals have committed in general terms to long
term targets after launching the process to negotiate post-2012
emission reductions last month in Montreal," noted Brent
R. Kopperson, Executive Director of the Windfall Ecology Centre.
There is a growing consensus among scientists that global
emissions must be reduced by 30% below 1990 levels by 2020
to avoid hitting a "tipping point" in the atmosphere
of 400 parts per million carbon dioxide.
"According to Mr. Harper's public statements, a Conservative
Party government would ignore the first stage Kyoto commitment
to reduce greenhouse gases by 6% below 1990 levels by 2012.
Given the urgency of the need to reduce far more by 2020,
the Conservative Party position represents a significant threat
to progress in confronting climate change," said Gaile
Whelan Enns of Manitoba Wildlands.
"It appears that a Canadian government under Stephen
Harper would move Canada more into the same camp as U.S. President
George W. Bush," noted Kathryn Malloy, Executive Director
of the British Columbia Chapter of Sierra Club of Canada.
The main plank of the Conservative Party platform on climate,
the tax deduction for transit passes is, according to the
Canadian Climate Coalition, a gross abuse of funds and an
unproductive boondoggle.
"Harper's plan will cost 200 to 800 times more for each
tonne of emissions than Canada's current Project Green, which
was, in fact, 'made in Canada'," according to Guy Dauncey
of the BC Sustainable Energy Association. "If this is
the way that Harper's 'made in Canada' plan to reduce emissions
begins, then he's certainly not a fiscal conservative!"
See attached Response Grid to the Questions Posed to the
five main parties by the Canadian Climate Coalition and
the
Backgrounder on the Conservative Party position on Climate
Change. Please consult with the Coalition's website: www3.sympatico.ca/lothcol/Election2006ClimateCoalition/
-30-
Backgrounder
...
Contact:
Guy Dauncey 250-744-2720
John Bennett 613-291-6888
Lindsay Telfer 780-439-1160
Marlo Raynolds 403-607-9427
Gaile Whelan Enns 204-981-3783
Brent Kopperson 905-303-3411
Fergus Watt 613-232-0647
Hugo Sequin 514-522-2000
Patrick Bonin 514-979-8378
André Bélisle, 418-642-1322, 418-386-6992
Canadian Climate Coalition/la Coalition
canadienne sur le climat
CPAWS-Wildlands League - Greenspiration - Pembina Institute
BC Sustainable Energy Association -
Manitoba Wildlands -
Windfall Ecology Centre
World Federalist Movement Canada -
Toxics
Watch Coalition Québec-vert-Kyoto
Coalition for a
Green Economy - We C.A.R.E - Sierra Club of Canada
|
