Canada Now Opposes Stricter GHG LImits In Future Treaties - G&M

[hatrack]

OTTAWA -- Canada will not support attempts by other countries to set deeper emission-reduction targets for the Kyoto Protocol's second phase, according to private instructions to Canadian negotiators in Bonn, Germany.

The instructions obtained by The Globe and Mail also show that Canada wants the climate-change accord phased out in favour of a separate, voluntary deal.

Ottawa's public submission to United Nations talks in Bonn on the Kyoto Protocol last week indicated Canada wants more lenient targets for itself. The private instructions from the Foreign Affairs Department to the Canadian delegation show Canada will also oppose the widely held view that targets in the second phase, which begins after 2012, should be tougher than those in the first phase. "Canada will not support . . . agreement on language in the work program that commits developed countries to more stringent targets in the future," states a line contained in 22 pages of instructions.


EDIT

NDP Leader Jack Layton also obtained the instructions last night and described Canada's position as "extremely disturbing." Mr. Layton said the position is an attempt to destroy Kyoto. "It's sort of like pulling the pin off a grenade and rolling it into the negotiations," he said. "Canada has completely betrayed the global partnership."

EDIT/END

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060520.KYOTO20/TPStory/Environment

[redqueen]

1. All those Canadians I spoke to

were so sure that so little would change... due to lack of a quorum (or whatever it's called)... looks like maybe they were wrong.

Corporatists everywhere...

[orwell]

2. What a difference...

...an election makes.