Home > News > 2008 > News Release

For release: January 28, 2008

Premiers Must Step in Where Ottawa is Failing on Climate

Climate Action Network calls on premiers to show leadership at Vancouver climate meeting

Ottawa - In the absence of federal leadership on global warming, Canada’s premiers must step up and commit to real cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution at this week’s Council of the Federation meeting.

The Climate Action Network Canada—Réseau action climat Canada, Canada’s largest climate protection coalition, calls on all premiers to agree to implement absolute caps on industrial GHG pollution and stronger vehicle regulations at the first 2008 meeting of Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders. Along with inter-provincial trade, climate change is the key agenda item at the two-day meeting, which opens today in Vancouver.

“We are encouraged that some premiers have made commitments to tackle climate change, and we urge all premiers to follow through with strong action without delay,” said Ian Bruce from the David Suzuki Foundation. “Hopefully, action at the provincial level will prod Canada’s reluctant federal government into some meaningful efforts to cut greenhouse gas pollution.”

Over the past two years, some provinces have taken on more aggressive commitments than Canada’s federal government in key areas, such as reducing industrial pollution, regulating vehicle emissions and putting a tax on “carbon” (shorthand for GHG emissions).

The Climate Action Network Canada—Réseau action climat Canada is calling on all provinces to:

• put a significant price on carbon pollution — using a carbon tax and/or a cap-and-trade system with absolute targets — to reduce GHG emissions from industry;
  
  
• adopt California’s tailpipe standards for vehicles (12 of the 13 premiers are said to support them, but only BC and Québec are actively promoting these standards); and,
  
  
• strengthen provincial building codes to bring them into line with the R2000 or the EnerGuide 80 energy-efficiency standards for residential buildings.

The premiers will spend the second day of their meeting discussing the issue of adapting to climate change. Although governments need to allocate adequate resources to dealing with the impacts of climate change in Canada, they must not use this as an excuse for failing to make deep cuts in GHG pollution in the first place.

“Reducing emissions aggressively should be the first order of business in any adaptation strategy,” said Graham Saul from Climate Action Network Canada. “Further delays in cutting pollution means adaptation efforts will need to be much stronger and much more expensive. The most effective approach is to move urgently both to reduce emissions and undertake adaptation. All governments must act to reduce and adapt — fast.”

- 30 -