Canada: Accountable and Transparent Government

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/emissions-reductions-10-times-less-than-governments-projections-report/article1591784/

Environment Canada overestimated by 10 times the amount of emissions reductions that result from government measures when it reported last year on its efforts to meet this country’s obligations under the Kyoto protocol. .... What is more, although Ottawa started handing over the first installments of a five-year $1.5-billion Clean Air and Climate Change Trust fund to the provinces in 2008, the federal government cannot monitor them or verify whether they are being spent for the intended purpose.

The federal government gave out money to the provinces and cannot verify what the provinces did with it? Isn't this the party that promised open, transparent, and accountable government?   And who told them  a prize existed for the most greenhouse gas emissions per capita?  They appear to be attempting to said prize..... *sigh*.

Conniving Canada

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/11/chinese-thinktank-copenhagen-document

Rich nations furthered their "conspiracy to divide the developing world" at December's UN climate summit in Copenhagen, while Canada "connived" and the EU acted "to please the United States", according to an internal document from a Chinese government thinktank obtained by the Guardian. .... The paper is scathing about the US-led "umbrella group", which it says adopted a position of inaction. Canada, it says, "was devoted to conniving" to convince the world that its pledge of a 3% emissions reduction between 1990 and 2020 is significant, while having no intention of meeting its Kyoto protocol target of 6%.

Our leadership drag their feet on climate change?  Spin and connive?  Jamais!

Meanwhile - tick, tock, tick, tock ... time is running out on opportunites to save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions,   amd reverse climate change.  And Canada fiddles.....and other countries protect their turf. And argue. And debatae.

 We need a different world view.  For starters, we might  consider the impacts of our actions on all future generations.

Kyoto Protocol Targets

 A friend asked me whether any countries had met their targets under the Kyoto Protoccol.  Kyoto sets out an agenda for Annex 1 countries for reducing GHG emissions by 5.2 %  from 1990 levels. (By the way, Portland, Oregon will have reduced its GHG emissions to 10 % below its 1990 levels by 2010 in spite of an 18% percent growth in its population.)  According to Wikipedia, the answer to my friend's question is yes. Denmark, Germany,  and the United Kingdom have all reduced their GHG emissions by at least 14 % without including land use, land use change, and forestry in the calculations. France has met its obligations as well if land use is included.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol#Change_in_greenhouse_gas_emission_since_1990

Implicit in my friend's question was "Could Canada have reduced its GHG emissions if it had tried?"  Denmark and Germany are relatively cold countries and Germany is a large country.   So the answer is yes - if Canada had made any effort at all, we could have achieved reductions.  Germany has cut its emissions by 17 % partly because it has actively supported green industries and clean energy. ( Please see my earlier post on Germany and clean energy at "Sunshine and Power. )