Hot Air

Paul Martin, in his capacity as Prime Minister, recently hosted the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Montreal. He had this to say to countries who had not yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

"To the reticent nations, including the United States, I say this: There is such a thing as a global conscience, and now is the time to listen to it."

And it was thus that the saintly Mr. Martin censured the petty Americans on their moral inferiority. Certainly, one of the biggest problems with the Kyoto accord is that the world's largest polluter has not ratified it (See Footnote**), but how on earth did Mr. Martin have the gall to say what he said? According to recent U.N. report, emissions in industrialized countries fell by an average of 5.9 percent between 1990 and 2003. Meanwhile, Canada's emissions increased by 24.2 percent! What moral ground was Martin standing on when he decided to lecture the Americans, who had a comparatively miniscule increase of 13.3 percent?

The Bush administration was obviously needled by the remarks. The White House's senior advisor on the environment, James Connaughton, expressed the administration's displeasure to Canada's ambassador, Frank McKenna.
"Any hopes of drawing Washington into the process have been dashed."

Today, Mr. Martin continued to show just how adept (inept) he is at convincing the American government to reduce emissions. He decided to hold a joint press conference with former president Bill Clinton on the issue of climate change. Said Stephen Harper, "...Mr. Martin is one president behind."

The whole episode is shameful. Paul Martin absurdly pretends to lead the world on the issue of climate change, all the while ignoring his party's dismal record on the issue during 12 years in power. And instead of constructivly engaging the Americans, he is trying to score cheap political points by showing himself to be confronting George Bush. I am no fan of the president, but he is the elected representative of the American people, and Canada's Prime Minister needs to deal with him as such. Unfortunately, Paul Martin choses to behave childishly, and, as a result, U.S.-Canada relations have needlessly hit a new low.


** The Americans are perhaps justified in their aversion to Kyoto, for it is a terribly flawed agreement. Countries are deemed to be either "developing" or "developed"; "developing" countries - like China, the world's second biggest pollluter - have no obligations to reduce emissions. On the other hand, I completely disagree with the Americans who reject Kyoto on the grounds that they do not believe the science. But I digress...