climate change – Page 24

Saturday September 26, 2015

September 26, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

David Suzuki Says He Called Justin Trudeau A ‘Twerp’

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist – Saturday September 26, 2015

During a testy phone call, Justin Trudeau dismissed David Suzuki’s views on the Liberal climate change policy as “sanctimonious crap,” according to Suzuki. Suzuki revealed the contents of the conversation during an interview on SiriusXM’s Everything is Political with Evan Solomon. Suzuki says he fired back, calling Trudeau a “twerp.”

The renowned scientist, broadcaster and activist says Trudeau called him personally June 28, 2015 to talk about the Liberal platform on climate change that was to be revealed the next day. “I didn’t call Justin, he called me,” Suzuki said. “He wanted an endorsement and he wanted to tell me exactly what his program was.”

For the record: Justin Trudeau’s speech on the environment: June 29, 2015

The program includes support for the Keystone XL pipeline, a rejection of the Northern Gateway pipeline and a commitment to work with the provinces to establish a cap-and-trade system.

“I said, ‘Justin, stop it, you’re just being political, you just want to make headway in Alberta,’” Suzuki says he told Trudeau. “You’re for the development of the tar sands, you’re for the Keystone pipeline, but you’re against the Northern Gateway, you’re all over the damn map!”

Maclean’s explains: Where the leaders stand on the environment

Suzuki went on to advise Trudeau that taking the target of a 2 degree rise in temperature seriously means 80 per cent of the oil sands has to stay in the ground. Suzuki believes stopping oil sands development will mean “no debate about pipelines or expanding railways or shipping stuff offshore—none of that comes into it.”

Suzuki says this is when the exchange turned nasty. “He said, ‘I don’t have to listen to this sanctimonious crap. I proceeded to call him a twerp.” (Source: MacLean’s)

Wednesday June 10, 2015

June 9, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 10, 2015

Prime Minister Stephen Harper agrees to G7 ‘decarbonization’ by 2100

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has agreed to a G7 commitment to deep cuts in carbon emissions by 2050 — with an eventual stop in the use of fossil fuels by the end of the century.

The call for a low-carbon footprint will “require a transformation in our energy sectors,” Harper said Monday at a news conference in Germany, following the two-day G7 summit.

“Nobody’s going to start to shut down their industries or turn off the lights,” he said. “We’ve simply got to find a way to create lower-carbon emitting sources of energy — and that work is ongoing.”

Canada and Japan blocked attempts at a stronger statement on binding greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to The Canadian Press sources who saw a working draft of the G7 communiqué, which was released today as the summit wrapped up.

“We emphasize that deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required with a decarbonization of the global economy over the course of this century,” the G7 leaders said in their final communiqué.

“We commit to doing our part to achieve a low-carbon global economy in the long-term including developing and deploying innovative technologies striving for a transformation of the energy sectors by 2050 and invite all countries to join us in this endeavour.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been pushing the G7 to endorse a pledge to reach zero carbon emissions.

“Canada and Japan are the most concerned about this one,” said one source who was privy to discussions but would only speak on the condition of anonymity. “The two of those countries have been the most difficult on every issue on climate.”

During question period on Monday, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said the government’s role in “toning down” the communiqué leaves “Canada with an environmental black eye on the world stage.” (Source: CBC News)

Saturday May 16, 2015

May 15, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 16, 2015

Canada’s new emissions target far from ambitious, critics say

Canada has set a new greenhouse gas emission reduction target as it prepares for international talks later this year, but critics say the goal is the weakest among G7 countries.

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Friday that Canada proposes to cut emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 — a target she called “fair and ambitious.”

Speaking in Winnipeg, Aglukkaq promised to introduce new regulations on methane emissions produced by the oil and gas industry. There will also be new rules for natural gas-fired power generation and for the chemical and nitrogen fertilizer industries.

“This target is . . . an ambitious commitment based on our national circumstances, which include a growing population, a diversified, growing economy and Canada’s position as a world leader in clean electricity generation.”

The target is slightly weaker than that of the United States, which has pledged to cut its greenhouse emissions by up to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025.

Wacky pack version available

Canada, the U.S. and other countries are taking their targets to a United Nations conference later this year in Paris, where a new international emissions regime is to be negotiated.

Environmental groups said Canada’s target is anything but ambitious.

“The European Union, already with per-capita emissions well below Canada’s, has a 40 per cent reduction target for 2030 — more than five times greater than Canada’s,” the group Environmental Defence said in a statement.

“To keep our people, communities and economy safe requires that Canada join the global community in making deep cuts to carbon pollution by shifting away from burning coal, oil and gas,” read a statement from the Climate Action Network. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Published in the Brandon Sun, Gull Lake Advance, National Newswatch, and The Saskatoon Star Phoenix

Wednesday April 15, 2015

April 14, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 15, 2015

Like a carbon tax, but much worse

If you want to put a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, there’s an easy way to do it. You implement a carbon tax, like British Columbia did, and add it to the price of gasoline and other fossil fuels. The higher the emissions, the more tax people pay. Anyone can understand how it works.

Then there’s a second way, which is much more complicated and expensive. It requires a big bureaucracy to administer and is highly vulnerable to special interests. Lots can go wrong. In Europe, where they’ve been trying to get it right for a decade, it’s been an abject failure. This system is called cap and trade, and nobody but the experts can understand how it works.

Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario has chosen the second way. The fact that cap-and-trade schemes are incredibly opaque is considered a feature, not a bug. The government can swear it’s not a tax, even though the taxpayers will wind up paying for it anyway as industry passes on the extra cost.

Cap-and-trade schemes are supposed to encourage companies to find cleaner forms of energy. A cap is set on the amount of pollution each industry is allowed to emit. Individual businesses are then granted (or sold) permits to pollute. They can then buy or sell these permits on the open market. If they want to emit more pollution, they have to buy more permits, and vice versa. Finance people love carbon markets because there’s good money in it for them. (Source: Margaret Wente, Globe & Mail)

Tuesday April 14, 2015

April 13, 2015 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 14, 2015

Premier Kathleen Wynne says it’s time to fight global warming by putting a price on carbon

Cap-and-trade is nothing more than a tax grab, critics say.

But Premier Kathleen Wynne says to do nothing to fight global warming will cost the economy far more.

“Cap-and-trade is a carbon tax by any other name,” Interim Progressive Conservative Leader Jim Wilson shot at the government to kick off question period.

“When businesses pay more, consumers pay more … it’s a tax on everything,” Wilson said.

Wynne said earlier at a news conference Monday that Ontarians are already paying for the effects of climate change in higher insurance premiums, among other things.

“Climate change is not a distant threat … we are talking about something is upon us … it is already imposing costs on the people of Ontario,” she said. “The sooner we get carbon pricing in place the better.”

The government estimates the 2013 ice storm cost $200 million in insurance payouts, while severe floods in the Greater Toronto Area resulted in nearly $1 billion in damages.

A cap-and-trade system discourages carbon emissions through a complex system of credits. While details were scarce, Wynne did acknowledge that motorists can expect to pay 2.5 to three cents a litre more at the pumps under the proposed plan.

But other than that, the program revealed little on exactly will pay and how consumers can expect to be impacted.

“It would be irresponsible of us to speculate on exactly what the costs are going to be when we haven’t worked to design the mechanism yet,” Wynne said, adding that critics can call it a tax if they want “even though it is misleading.” (Source: Toronto Star)

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Posted to Yahoo News Canada and iPolitics.