Mr. Speaker, as members know, the world met in Indonesia for the 13th United Nations climate change conference in December last year. The meeting was an important step in the ongoing international process under the UN to address climate change. The meeting in Indonesia was also another opportunity for Canada to demonstrate its international leadership on this issue.
From the very beginning of these discussions, Canada's position has been that we must have an effective, binding international framework that leads to real greenhouse gas reductions. To reach that goal, all major emitters, such as China and India, need to be on-board. The world moved closer to reaching that goal in Indonesia.
Our government is proud of the principled position we have taken. With the United States now signed onto this framework, results of this conference can show progress. We see that as an important first step.
Make no mistake, the next two years will be a challenge, with long and intense negotiations. Canada looks forward to meeting that challenge and to working with our international partners to develop a global solution in the fight against climate change.
Climate change is a global program, requiring global solutions. We see that with the agreement we reached in Indonesia. Let me be clear. Canada is committed to the United Nations process. We are committed to an international framework driven by science. We are committed to taking action with our turning the corner plan. Unlike the Liberal Party that sat around and did nothing for 13 years, we are taking action.
For a moment, though, let us look at the performance of the Liberal leader in Bali. He said that he would never criticize his government while abroad. He did, several times. The Liberal leader intentionally came to Bali to undermine and sabotage the work of the government at an international conference. That is a shame.
Canada understands the global threat to climate change requires a truly global solution. The scientific work of the International Panel on Climate Change, or the IPCC, tells us that we must stop the rise in greenhouse gas emissions and make significant cuts in emissions over the next 50 years if we are to prevent drastic consequences. This government supports the conclusions of the IPCC as the world's pre-eminent scientific body on climate change. The science is clear. The world must take immediate action on climate change.
Therefore, this government is taking action, with Canada's national plan “Turning the Corner: An Action Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution”. Our plan will continue to deliver realistic and achievable results on cleaning up our environment. It is focused on broad action here at home and continued international leadership on the world stage.
Our agenda includes: absolute reduction in greenhouse gases of 20% by 2020; further reductions of 60% to 70% by 2050; a domestic carbon market; a comprehensive strategy for the Arctic, including a world class Arctic research station; national air pollution regulations; an action plan on clean water to protect our rivers, lakes and oceans; and tougher enforcement that will make polluters accountable.
Over the last year, Canada has been at the forefront of international action on climate change, including the leadership shown by the Prime Minister at the G-8, at the OPEC summit and at the United Nations.
Canada was also proud to play a leading role to achieve historic success at the Montreal protocol conference, where over 190 countries agreed on eliminating substances that would harm the ozone layer and would contribute to climate change.
Canada will continue to play an important role in this negotiation process. Specifically, Canada continues to articulate that a post-2012 climate change agreement should include: a target date for stabilizing emissions and goals for global emissions reductions by 2050; the strongest action and commitment by all major emitters; adequate consideration for national circumstances so as not to unduly burden the growth of any single country; consideration of a sectoral approach to appropriate cases where countries agree on specific targets for emissions reductions from highly globalized industries, such as concrete and fertilizer; the elimination of trade barriers to green technology to support the demand for this new technology; a clear price signal on carbon to support the use of market mechanisms; a mechanism to provide credits for reduced emissions through reductions of deforestation, as more than 20% of global emissions result from deforestation; and due consideration for the need to adapt to the warming that scientists tell us will occur, regardless of immediate action.
What the government will not do is mislead the international community like the Liberals did for 13 years. When the Liberals signed on to Kyoto, they had no idea of the costs to the Canadian consumer, or the impact it would have on the Canadian economy. They wrote a number down on the back of a napkin in an attempt to trump the Americans, and now we find ourselves 35% above our Kyoto targets.
I agree 100% with the Toronto Star columnist, Chantal Hébert when she said:
Among the opposition leaders, only [the Liberal leader], who sat for a decade in government, stands to be called to account for how far behind Canada has fallen on the road to Kyoto.
The Liberals had no intention of meeting the Kyoto targets. Instead, they were prepared to send billions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to buy hot air credits from Russia. Members do not have to take my word for it. Let us hear what former Liberal environment ministers had to say.
Former Liberal environment minister Christine Stewart said, “The Minister of Finance could never find money for Kyoto which was a terrible disappointment to me”.
The article goes on to say:
Stewart today says that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien...“didn't get environment”. She also says Natural Resources minister [the member for Wascana] accompanied her to “reassure,” the domestic oil industry because of the tremendous amount of “pushback,” Kyoto was getting”.
Let us hear what former Liberal environment minister Sheila Copps had to say:
I remember very well when (Chrétien) actually endorsed Kyoto, he called me before he went to South Africa because he was getting tremendous push back from the bureaucracy, the department of finance, the former minister of finance...and all of those attached to the natural resources…including [the member for Wascana] and Anne McLellan. (They) were viciously against Kyoto.
Sheila Copps went on further to say:
We burned thousands of pounds of paper with briefing notes from the department of Natural Resources and the Department of Finance showing us why we could do nothing because it was an economic disaster.
Yet for all those years, Canada deceived the international community. The Liberals talked and talked and never backed it up with action. Only the Liberal leader can be held to account for that.
The fact is our government cannot take responsibility for the inaction and mistakes of the past 13 years under the Liberals, but what Canadians can expect is that we will take action to clean up the mess left by the Liberals. That is why we are moving aggressively to cut greenhouse gas emission and fight global warming in our country.
When it comes to failed international agreements, it is only the Liberals that know failure. Unlike the Liberals, we are getting the job done on the international stage.