Canada won't bend at Copenhagen talks

MONTREAL -- The Canadian gov­ernment says it will be follow­ing Barack Obama's lead at next week's Copenhagen climate summit -- and will propose to do no more, no less. In a speech to a Montreal business audience Friday, Environment Minis­ter Jim Prentice said Canada's policy for cutting greenhouse gases would be in lockstep with the United States.

He also brushed off critics of his gov­ernment's climate change positions, say­ing he will stick to his convictions despite international pressure at Copenhagen.

He cited two reasons Canada must twin its policies with the U.S.: It would "suffer economic pain for no real en­vironmental gain" if it took a more ag­gressive approach, he said. Also, it would face punitive measures if it did less.

"Given the integration of our two economies it is essential our targets re­main in line -- not more, not less," Pren­tice said. "It all comes down to jobs."

But critics say such an approach could be a licence to do nothing.

While Obama has set greenhouse gas targets, there's no guarantee he will succeed in getting Congress to approve his climate change plans.

One international critic has even called Canada the biggest obstacle to any deal being reached in Copenhagen. Prentice said that's not true.

"Canada wants to achieve, at Copen­hagen, a new agreement," he said.

"That is our policy, that is what we have been working toward for the last year. We want to be constructive at the table, we want to see an agreement -- an agreement is in Canada's interests."

Prentice said leadership entails mak­ing tough decisions, especially during

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the difficult negotiations he's expecting in Copenhagen. He promised not to be swayed by critics at the summit.

"We refuse to repeat the mistakes of the past," he said, in a clear reference to Canada's past acceptance of tougher targets in the Kyoto accord.

"That is why it's imperative that we not rush into a deal just for the sake of saying we've taken action. There's always a lot of hype and drama that gets built into this sort of international event, much of it intended to force the hand of participants.

"We aren't going to buy into that. We are not going to panic."

Prentice said leadership means tak­ing a stand -- popular or otherwise.

But Matthew Bramley, a climate change policy expert with the Pem­bina Institute, said that seeking to har­monize with the U.S. is the opposite of leadership. He calls it "follower-ship."

"There's no economic case for slav­ishly following every detail of U.S. policy on climate change," Bramley said in an interview.

Bramley also disagrees with Pren­tice's argument that Canadian jobs are at stake. He said economic studies dem­onstrate Canada could set ambitious targets while creating new jobs.

Several Canadian provinces have actually reduced emissions, environ­mentalists note, while their economies prospered in recent years.

"I think it's quite misleading and dis­appointing that the minister insinuates that there's a threat to jobs from taking action on climate change -- it's just not true," Bramley said.

One of Ottawa's biggest critics at the summit could wind up being the premier of Quebec. Jean Charest is proposing the toughest greenhouse gas emissions targets in the country, pledging to cut 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

That's far more than Ottawa's pro­posed 20 per cent cut from 2006 levels. Charest plans to be in Copenhagen to promote his province's more aggres­sive emissions goals.

Charest has also publicly urged the Harper government to be a leader in the climate talks -- not a follower. Such re­marks set the stage for a possible intra­Canadian quarrel on the world stage.

The opposition also dismissed warn­ings of economic catastrophe caused by action on climate change. The Liberals say the government is scrambling to find a position, now that international consen­sus is forcing it to act.

"If you take eight of the top 10 prov­inces you see that their average reduc­tions are 14 per cent below 1990 levels -- about five times in excess of what the federal government's plan is today," said Liberal environment critic David Mc­Guinty. "So we have a patchwork of re­sponses. The minister is now in trouble. He's in damage control."

-- The Canadian Press