Canada once a leader in environmental movement now a laggard

CTV video of demonstrations and negotiations – “Canada under the gun”

Canada has heritage in the environmental movement that is being tarnished by the decades of neglect, following the formation of Greenpeace in 1971. The current government is an national and international embarrassment. Our mayors and provincial premiers are ahead of the federal government.

The Greenpeace movement was started in British Columbia, Canada by a few idealistic activists. Some of the people who gathered in Irving Stowe’s living room were Americans and some were Canadians. They were concerned about pacifism and the environment.

The name came from the common greeting of pacifists “”Peace”

At one of the meetings, Irving Stowe said to Bill Darnell as he left “Hey Bill! Peace!”

Darnell replied “Let’s make it a green peace.” The simple juxtaposition of their prime concerns in two words became the name of the organization that grew from that humble beginning – Greenpeace.

From then, Greenpeace has grown to 2.9 million supporters, offices in 40 countries and the reputation as a leader in environmental concerns.

Canada’s leading role

Canada on the other hand has fallen behind it’s commitment at Kyoto to a modest 6% reduction in pollution. We signed Kyoto but refused to ratify the treaty.

The Liberals, weakened after a decade in power and the corruption scandal, didn’t want to offend powerful industrial interests especially the oil industry.

The Harper Conservatives have a dismal record on the environment of saying nothing and doing less. Minister Prentice now calls Kyoto an embarrassment he doesn’t want Canada to repeat.

Harper is trying to protect the pollution from the tar sands at all cost since Alberta is his strongest base of support. As a right-wing ne0-conservative, Harper is philosophical opposed to the environmental movement.

Provinces and mayors lead

We have premiers who are taking the lead in the battle to reduce pollution such as Jean Charest in Quebec.

“British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec have all struck positions on climate change that are tougher than that of the federal government, including using 1990 as a base year for greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. The federal government is using a 2006 base year for its targets, which translate into only a three per cent emission reduction over 1990 emission levels by 2020. Ontario’s target is a 15 per cent reduction, while Quebec is aiming for 20 per cent, and British Columbia for a 33 per cent reduction.” Laura Payton, Embassy

David Miller the Mayor of Toronto, contradicted the Harper government in a press release. “As mayor of Canada’s largest city, I can assure the rest of the world that there is leadership in Canada. Provincial and municipal governments are taking climate change seriously even as the federal government is lagging…. We expect the government to support a fair, ambitious and binding deal.”

It is obvious that Canada is not leading the negotiations in Copenhagen. We are a brake on progress.

BC’s Premier Gordon Campbell thinks the United States, who under Bush resisted environmental change, might under Obama lead Canada.

No wonder the world holds us in derision. A proud history of environmental activism is being squandered by Stephen Harper who wants to take us back to the good old days of conservative values.

CTV News – BC Premier wants provinces and all Canadians to lead the way on positive climate change. Videos are copyrighted by CTV and used as part of a news report (fair dealing under Canadian copyright law)