Doer going to Copenhagen

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0TTAWA -- Canada's man in Washington is going to Copenhagen.

The Harper government will dispatch Ambassador and former Manitoba premier Gary Doer to climate talks in the Danish capital, The Canadian Press has learned.

Sources confirm Canada's newly minted ambassador to the United States will be part of a 16-member group of "eminent expert advisers."

The group is also made up of heads of industry, including the CEOs of Calgary-based companies Atco Ltd. and TransAlta Corp.

Some members of the group apparently met recently in Calgary for a pre-Copenhagen briefing with Environment Minister Jim Prentice.

Prentice's office declined to provide more details on Doer's tabbing for the climate talks, or on the advisory group. A spokesman would only say an announcement on the Copenhagen advisers is expected this weekend.

But a Canadian Embassy spokeswoman later confirmed Doer's attendance at the talks.

"Yes, he is going," Jennie Chen said in an email.

Doer, the man known as Manitoba's "Teflon premier" during his decade-long reign, may help Canada wipe some of the soot from its tarnished image at the climate talks.

Canada gets picked on by environmentalists for not doing enough to fight climate change. Groups awarded Canada its third Fossil of the Day award Wednesday in Copenhagen.

The United Nations climate chief had to defend Canada on Wednesday at a news conference. Yvo de Boer told reporters Canada has been "negotiating very constructively" in Copenhagen.

But Doer's face is squeaky clean compared to Canada's grimy visage.

A Manitoba environmentalist said Harper may want to tap into Doer's experience on environmental issues. Or he may just want Doer there to improve Canada's image.

"It could very well be public relations," said Eric Reder, Manitoba campaign director for the Wilderness Committee. "Obviously, there's a black mark on Canada internationally. We have the tarsands to deal with."

It was under Doer's leadership that Manitoba joined a coalition of Canadian provinces and U.S. states that plans a regional market to trade carbon emissions.

Doer was also an ardent supporter of the Kyoto Protocol that countries are trying to negotiate a successor to in Copenhagen. But the Canadian delegation may want to harness his well-honed skills as a negotiator and deep knowledge of Canada-U.S. trade and energy issues.

Canada goes into Copenhagen with its environmental policies largely hitched to whatever comes out of the United States.

Those tight ties to the U.S. could explain Doer's plane ticket to Copenhagen, says a former head of Canadian consular services and a former ambassador.

"Given the important role that the Americans are playing in Copenhagen, and the fact that Canadian policy -- whether we like it or not -- is supposedly going to be tied with what the Americans are doing, (I am) not surprised at all that we would bring Mr. Doer along on something like this," Gar Pardy said.

"On top of that, Doer comes from a very important province with a good background on that, so he comes with a double whammy almost, as it were, in terms of the issues that will be at play in Copenhagen."

Canada's top climate-change envoy, Michael Martin, is leading a 47-member delegation of federal officials and provincial representatives. It's not clear if the expert advisers are counted in that tally.

It was only day three on Wednesday and already the Copenhagen talks were off to a bumpy start.

Developing countries and climate activists complained after a two-week-old draft proposal by the Danish government surfaced, which would allow rich countries to cut fewer emissions while poorer nations would face tougher limits on greenhouse gases and more conditions on getting funds.

-- The Canadian Press, with staff files

Former Manitoba premier Gary Doer was too pragmatic to be a genuine tree hugger, but his decade in office did see some major green initiatives. Critics said they were too little, too slow, but the moves cemented Doer's reputation as a practical environmentalist.

Climate change

Manitoba will meet its Kyoto targets and has one of the most aggressive, if not the most aggressive, emission reduction plan of any province in Canada. The province is luckier than many, though. We don't rely on dirty coal power and we don't have huge manufacturing plants or tarsands that pollute.

Boreal forest preservation

Manitoba has protected thousands of acres of parkland and forest in the last decade, including the huge territory on the east side of Lake Winnipeg that could one day be a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Lake Winnipeg cleanup

This one's a little slow to get going, but the province has launched a series of initiatives to reduce the nutrients and algae in the lake. The biggest and most controversial one is the ban on new hog barns in the Red River Valley, but there are also new rules for septic fields, dish soap and fertilizer.

International reputation

Doer's green credentials got a big boost in 2005 when the American magazine Business Week had him on its list of the Top 20 international leaders fighting climate change.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 10, 2009 A3