30 Fairmont Park Lane S
Lethbridge, AB
T1K 7H7
Phone: (403) 328-1804
Sunday, April 22, 2007
The Editor
The Lethbridge Herald
P.O. Box 670
Lethbridge, AB, T1J 3Z7
Dear Editor,
If there is such a thing as “yellow journalism”, then the Canadian Press article “Climate action achievable at lower cost: UN” in the Herald on Saturday, April 21 is an exemplary example.
Reporter Dennis Beuckert refers indirectly to an Environment Canada report titled “The Cost of Bill C-288 to Canadian Families and Business” and compared it unfavorably to an unreleased UN report. Bill C-288 is ludicrous legislation passed through parliament by the opposition parties asking that Canadians be forced to comply with Kyoto greenhouse gas reductions. Mr. Bueckert has either not read the Environment Canada report, or is deliberately providing his own misleading spin on Canada’s involvement in Kyoto.
I have read the Environment Canada report. It builds on work done by the National Climate Change Process of the former Liberal Government and brings the economic analysis done then up to date. It was undertaken to help make Canadians aware of the tremendous expense that would need to be imposed on them to actually meet the letter of the Kyoto greenhouse gas reduction commitment. The report reasonably concludes that the only way left to do that by the 2008 to 2012 Kyoto timeframe is to impose a significant tax on emissions. That would in turn drastically drive up the price of gasoline, electricity and natural gas resulting in an economic downturn.
Canada made a mistake in 1997 by signing on to Kyoto and compounded it with ratification in 2002. Our “new government” seems to have lost its spine over Kyoto in the face of environmental organizations, the opposition, and a media that claims “ordinary Canadians” support the Kyoto commitment. The Kyoto Protocol includes a withdrawal clause. Sensible Canadians need to get their backs up and be more direct in indicating their position on Kyoto so that our government has the courage to consider withdrawal.
I urge Herald readers to review the report that Dennis Beuckert belittles and make their opinions known. It is available at http://www.ec.gc.ca.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast