Clean energy, not photo-op, should be premiers' priority
Provincial agreement on pollution standards would clear the way for action by Ottawa
Aug 05, 2009
Rick Smith
Executive Director of Environmental Defence
When Canada's premiers gather each year, they usually are so concerned with polite, and boring, diplomacy that the only thing that makes the news is the picture of the provincial leaders all wearing the same themed clothing. Cowboy hats for everyone!
This year, though, things at the Council of the Federation meeting in Regina must be different. This year, Quebec, Ontario and other provinces that understand the need to quickly transition to a clean energy economy must prevail over those that do not, or all of Canada risks significant political and economic upheaval.
A deadline is looming in December when the world will conclude international climate negotiations in Copenhagen. With the departure of the Bush administration, the Canadian government now stands isolated among industrialized countries in resisting the level of effort needed to pass along a stable climate to our children and grandchildren.
Only the prospect of incurring carbon tariffs from the U.S. seems to have roused Prime Minister Stephen Harper to say he will do the bare minimum, and even that is suspect given his historic opposition to real action as opposed to window dressing.
Some of the provinces have filled the vacuum left by Ottawa on climate change by moving to put in place their own laws and policies to clamp down on polluters and to put a price on carbon.
Ontario and Quebec have both joined the Western Climate Initiative, a collection of Canadian and U.S. provinces and states working together to build a system to regulate large polluters. With the likelihood of a new national system in the U.S. that will replace state-level efforts, however, the focus shifts back to Ottawa to put in place a national system in Canada as well, particularly in the context of possible trade sanctions.
If the premiers all agreed in general terms about the level of pollution cuts needed and the system to accomplish this, then Ottawa's job would be relatively straightforward.
But Alberta and Saskatchewan, instead of wanting to make pollution cuts, actually want to increase their contribution to global warming by exploiting the tar sands.
All the talk about technology reducing tar-sands emissions is sadly that – just talk. If new technology like carbon capture and storage can in fact be proven effective, it's years away, which is time we don't have if we are serious about battling global warming.
Unfortunately, Harper is all too sympathetic to tar-sands development, meaning he will be predisposed to building a national pollution system that makes Quebec, Ontario and other provinces pick up the slack for growing tar-sands pollution.
If we are to meet national reduction targets, then having one sector grow its pollution can only come at the expense of other sectors making even deeper cuts to accommodate it.
This is why Quebec and Ontario need to insist that all provinces and all economic sectors – including the tar sands – do their fair share to make actual emissions cuts in any national program.
The so called "intensity" system, whereby tar-sands operators make emissions cuts per barrel but overall emissions grow with production, must end in favour of absolute emissions cuts for all sectors, fairly applied across the country.
It would be deeply unfair to the federation to have one standard for the manufacturing sectors in Ontario and Quebec, for example, and another less stringent standard for the tar sands in Alberta.
Plus, such a scenario would never allow Canada to make a reduction target in line with what scientists say is needed to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
There is, therefore, a very real political battle both between the provinces and with the federal government that must unfold this week in Regina and during the remainder of this year before Copenhagen, one that will determine the shape of both our economy and our environment over the coming decades.
Premiers Ed Stelmach and Brad Wall of Alberta and Saskatchewan now see wealth as defined by fossil fuels and fail to take responsibility for the costs they inflict on our deteriorating atmosphere.
If our federation is to survive and thrive in the future, we have no choice but to redefine wealth by creating new jobs in a clean energy economy.
Canada is falling badly behind in that transition. Regina is an opportunity to begin to turn things around.
