Mr. Speaker, I rise in this evening's adjournment proceedings to pursue a question I asked of the Prime Minister on June 3.
To refresh the memories of members, that was the day when President Barack Obama announced an ambitious climate plan, using his executive powers to ensure that greenhouse gases in the United States would fall in absolute terms. The U.S. climate target is too weak. By 2020, when the Copenhagen target falls due for what Barack Obama promised, the U.S. will be slightly below its 1990 emission levels.
I hope my presentation tonight will not be too technical or have too many numbers for people to follow. The key point here is that President Obama's climate target, taken in Copenhagen in 2009, exactly tracks with Canada's in terms of the numbers used. Both Canada and the U.S. pledged to reduce greenhouse gases by 17% below 2005 levels, and do that by 2020.
Both Mr. Obama and our Prime Minister were in Copenhagen at the same time and took on this target. However, the effect is different. It happens that in 2005, the base year for this Copenhagen pledge, Canada's emissions were abnormally high. Therefore, going 17% below had the effect of being the second time that the current Prime Minister weakened our target. First, abandoning the Kyoto pledge for 6% below 1990 levels by 2012, and weakening it again when he changed from a 2006 base year to a 2005 base year.
The net effect of all this is that Barack Obama's pledge is too weak for sure. It only gets the U.S. to a bit below 1990 levels by 2020. Canada's Copenhagen pledge is even weaker, leaving us above 1990 levels at 2020 were we to keep our commitment.
However, it is abundantly clear from the Environment Canada website, from the report of the Canada's environmental commissioner that Canada simply has no hope whatsoever of coming near the weak target we pledged.
Contrast that with what we heard earlier in this chamber today. The President of France stood here, and all members stood and applauded as he pledged that his country and the European Union would move to 40% below 1990 levels.
The 1990 figure is important to remember. It is the baseline for all other countries around the world, except when Canada went rogue and picked 2006 as a base year. We created the space for the U.S. to weaken its targets as well.
Here we have it. My original question to the Prime Minister was premised with the notion that we were playing a climate change shell game. Indeed, we are.
Here is the bottom line. The atmosphere is not the least bit interested in negotiating with humanity. The IPCC is really clear. We have to move to an aggressive phase-out within which even if the current government were going to meet the Copenhagen target, it would not be close to doing what is required to preserve the world for our kids. We have to be serious minded about this.
The nonsense that goes on in the House, the shell games about 130 megatonnes less than it would have been under the Liberals, which is just absolutely absurd, the ridiculous notion that we have plan when we do not must stop. Let us talk seriously about the position Canada will take next month in Lima.