CANADA'S DEBACLE IN
BALI: NOW,
DEFEAT THE HARPER ECO-CRIMINALS!
(The
following article is from
the January 1-15,
2008
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
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Statement
by the Central Executive
Committee, Communist Party of Canada, Dec. 15, 2007
By resisting
progress towards
desperately-needed world action against the impact of catastrophic
climate change, the Harper Conservatives are rapidly giving Canada a
global reputation as a country governed by eco-criminals. It is no
exaggeration to state that by attempting to sabotage the United Nations
Climate Change Conference (held in Bali from Dec. 3 to 14), PM Harper
and Environment Minister John Baird were committing a grave crime
against humanity. Fortunately, a massive outpouring of anger by
Canadians and the international community compelled Baird to withdraw
formal objections to the conference call for 25 to 40 per cent cuts in
greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by wealthy countries by the end of the
next decade.
Most of the
190 countries represented at the Bali Summit came to hammer out an
agreement on stopping catastrophic climate change. But instead of
cooperating in this historic task, the Harper Tories joined the United
States, Japan, Saudi Arabia and a handful of other countries in efforts
to prevent agreement on meaningful emission reductions. Canada even
received the global "fossil" award as one of the worst countries in the
world on climate change.
Despite their
minority position in Parliament, and with total contempt for the views
of Canadians and the rest of the world, the Harper Tories respond only
to the demands of the big oil monopolies and US imperialism. Harper's
position has been that Canada will not accept any meaningful targets
for reducing GHG emissions unless all developed and developing
countries are on board. This hypocrisy is simply a ruse to evade
Canada's responsibilities by blaming the problem on others. The UN
Development Program recently described Canada as an "extreme case" of
"all talk and no action," noting that Canadians leave the second
largest "carbon footprint" per capita in the world after the United
States. And at the latest Commonwealth meeting in Uganda, Stephen
Harper blocked a draft agreement calling for developed countries to
meet greenhouse gas targets.
While
emissions are growing rapidly in some developing countries, developed
capitalist countries have caused the problem over the past two
centuries, and have benefited most from GHG emissions. By supporting
the all-out expansion of the Alberta oil sands and the export of this
vast energy resource to the U.S., the Harper government is locking
Canada into the U.S. war machine. Their policies mean vast profits for
the big oil, but devastating consequences for the environment and
working people.
The Harper
government's spin on climate change at the Bali talks continues its
ludicrous claim at the recent APEC meeting in Australia, that Canada is
a "world leader" on this issue. The truth is that the Tory "strategy"
of increased energy intensity (using less energy per unit of gross
domestic product as GDP grows) simply will not reduce GHG emissions.
Since the
APEC Summit, Australian PM John Howard - one of Bush's few allies - has
been defeated by voters angry about his lies and failure to act on
climate change.
Stephen
Harper must also be defeated! The Communist Party of Canada will
continue to help mobilize popular resistance to the Conservatives and
their anti-environmental, big business agenda. We urge the
Parliamentary opposition parties to defeat Harper now, so that his "big
oil" government can be removed from office by the voters as soon as
possible.
Found
at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint09/CANADA'S_DEBACLE_IN_BALI__NOW,_DEFEAT_THE_HARPER_ECO-CRIMINALS!.html