EnviroNewsandIssues Newsletter - Edition 9

May 1, 2005
Writers take back seat at Alberta Scene - Edmonton Journal
Linda Goyette wins coveted $25,000 book prize
OTTAWA -- Even if literature is Canada's best cultural export, literary reading is the runt of the performing arts. Aside from the absence of Ralph Klein at the champagne receptions and the overall provincial arts funding malaise that keeps coming up during boozy pre- and post-show conversations in Ottawa, the only real controversy at Alberta Scene is the literary programming.

On Friday night, the writers shortlisted for the Grant MacEwan Author's Award, one of the most valuable prizes in Canada, went up against a performance by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, blues, punk and worldbeat shows, a Francophone music extravaganza and a collection of cowboy songs and rhymes.

Each of the empty seats at Library and Archives Canada, a picturesque 15- minute walk from the National Arts Centre past Parliament Hill, was a quietly painful provocation. But none of the Alberta performers was surprised. Every serious writer knows what it's like to read her words to an organizer, her smiling husband, that lost hobo with a crinkly Safeway bag and the other bestselling author on the bill.

Book Review - 'The World Is Flat': The Wealth of Yet More Nations - New York Times - <--- Very good book OVER the past few years, the United States has been obsessed with the Middle East. The administration, the news media and the American people have all been focused almost exclusively on the region, and it has seemed that dealing with its problems would define the early decades of the 21st century. ''The war on terror is a struggle that will last for generations,'' Donald Rumsfeld is reported to have said to his associates after 9/11. This doesn't mean that the Middle East will disappear off the map. Far from it. Terrorism remains a threat, and we will all continue to be fascinated by upheavals in Lebanon, events in Iran and reforms in Egypt. But ultimately these trends are unlikely to shape the world's future. The countries of the Middle East have been losers in the age of globalization, out of step in an age of free markets, free trade and democratic politics. The world's future -- the big picture -- is more likely to be shaped by the winners of this era. And if the United States thought it was difficult to deal with the losers, the winners present an even thornier set of challenges. This is the implication of the New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman's excellent new book, ''The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century.''

Anti-Nuclear Demonstrations Held in New York - New York Times
A coalition of groups opposed to nuclear weapons marched in New York today, just before talks start at the United Nations to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Marching bands played, and demonstrators held placards and flags pushing for nuclear disarmament and rallying against war as they made their way toward Central Park.

The protest by United for Peace and Justice, an antiwar group, and Abolition Now, which advocates the elimination of nuclear weapons, have said they expected up to 60,000 people to participate, including the mayors of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the United States dropped atomic bombs in 1945 in the final days of World War II, killing and wounding hundreds of thousands of people.

B.C. election campaign a snore and with no radical proposals, leaders become focus - London Recorder
In an election campaign where British Columbia's major parties promise the same thing, to stay the course, experts say many voters will choose not between ideas, but personalities.

"Will it be the leader they don't know very well or the leader who many sense they don't like, but can't remember why because he's just been so quiet lately," wonders Prof. Gerald Baier, a University of British Columbia political scientist.

"It's an election of personalities with no personality. No one is suggesting anything radical, which fits with the general public perception that things are going OK, that we have something good to look forward to."

Kyoto already a big failure - Toronto Sun
FOR THOSE uneasy about the Kyoto Protocol -- which all Canadian political parties endorse and the media tend to go along with -- a wake-up call is being issued by an impressive array of scientists.

In fact, it is more than that. It is a categorical refutation of the whole concept that SUVs and man-made emissions, especially carbon dioxide, have any discernible effect on the climate.

In other words, global warming is a myth. A political ploy.

Climate change is constant-- and we can't stop it - Winnipeg Sun
By Barry Cooper
THERE is an emerging consensus on climate change, but to listen to the government, you wouldn't know it.

Granted, Stéphane Dion's account of the Liberals' "plan" for "honouring our Kyoto commitment" at a recent press conference might have been more misguided than it was.

Empty posturing about reducing so-called greenhouse gasses, or facilitating a "transition towards a low-carbon economy," or a gesture in the direction of creating carbon sinks and renewable energy are not a plan because nothing was said of how the Kyoto commitment was to be enforced. Of course, governments occasionally formulate policies based on sheer fantasy.

North Dakota flood project nears completion - C-NEWS
A winding 23-kilometre canal being built to move water off swollen North Dakota's Devils Lake is nearly finished and cold weather enthusiasts already have taken test drives.

"Snowmobilers just love this thing," said Carl Duchscher, who has been working with landowners on the state's new Devils Lake outlet.

"They think this is just the greatest thing on earth."

April 30, 2005

A tree falls, but its spirit lives on - Vancouver Sun <--- Shameless promotion for a friend of mine CONTROVERSY I Haida Gwaii's golden spruce was sacred to the Haida people -- and a great story idea for a visiting writer QUEEN CHARLOTTE CITY - Seeing yourself reflected through a writer's lens can be difficult, especially when the writer isn't "from these parts." Although John Vaillant's non-fiction book, The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed, hasn't yet hit the shelves, his gaze has already angered some Haida. The book deals with the felling of a rare yellow-needled golden spruce on the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) that was a sacred symbol of the Haida culture. Many here feel the book glamorizes a private tragedy and, worse, does so by glorifying the man who cut down the beloved tree. Once again, the Haida are faced with a writer who views events important to them from a non-native perspective. Ottawa antes up to combat overfishing - Ottawa Citizen
ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. -- The federal government will spend an additional $20 million over the next three years to combat overfishing, most of it on scientific research, Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan announced Friday.

The announcement comes on the eve of an international conference on overfishing beginning in St. John's on Sunday and in the midst of a cross-country federal spending spree ahead of a likely election.

April 29, 2005
Prospect of a Mine Near a Salmon Fishery Stirs Worry in Alaska - New York Times
NEWHALEN, Alaska - The Bristol Bay watershed, an intricate system of lakes, streams and rivers that are home to some of the world's greatest salmon runs, is remarkably unchanged by human activity.

With only sparse trees, it has not been logged. There are no significant dams and few roads. The only way to get here is by air or boat. "So it's not quite as God made it, but pretty close," said Dr. Thomas Quinn, a fish biologist at the University of Washington who has studied the region for almost 20 years.

But Bristol Bay is also an economically depressed region that is home to rich mineral deposits.

And prospectors are spending tens of millions of dollars on plans for mining operations across the headwaters of the salmon fishery, which could change the region forever.

Pollution Risk Is Found on Diesel School Buses - New York Times
University of California researchers calculate that in large urban areas, children riding in school buses with diesel engines collectively inhale more school bus exhaust than everyone else in the city combined.

Exposure to the ultrafine diesel particulate matter, or D.P.M., is known to raise the risk for cancer.

Scientists at the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses tested the air inside six buses while they were being driven through the Los Angeles metropolitan area with the windows opened and closed.

Except for one 1975 model, all the buses were built from 1985 to 2002.

Bicoastal Blues for G.M. and Ford - New York Times
DETROIT, April 22 - Setting aside its home base in the Upper Midwest, Detroit has a blue state problem - and it is about to get worse.

Washington and Oregon plan to become the 9th and 10th states to adopt California's tough car emissions rules, forming an increasingly potent market for more fuel-efficient vehicles on the West Coast and in the Northeast.

The states that already follow California's stringent tailpipe emissions rules also happened to fall in the blue column of the 2004 presidential election: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Alberta's wind-power fight buffets David Suzuki - Globe and Mail

David Suzuki finds himself on an unfamiliar side of the conservation debate: under fire from environmentalists for seemingly endorsing a controversial wind-farm proposal in the southeast corner of Alberta.

In a commentary, "The beauty of wind farms," published in New Scientist magazine, the renowned Canadian scientist, who is about to be honoured with the Canadian Environment Award for lifetime achievement, outlines the virtues of emission-free wind energy.

Mr. Suzuki describes the battles brewing among environmentalists in North America and Europe over wind farms, including the debate over a proposal to erect one near Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, southeast of Medicine Hat.

Get those doctors out of their cabs - Victoria Times/Colonist
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh says the $75 million the federal government is allocating over the next five years to help foreign-trained health professionals practise in Canada will add another 1,000 doctors to the system.

Another 1,000 over five years won't do much in a country in which as many as four million have no family physicians, where so many doctors are retiring and so many young medical graduates are being lured to the U.S., which also has a shortage. And we hope the doctors are better at medicine than Dosanjh is at maths, because his estimate of how far that $75 million will go seems way out of whack.

Nuke power given a jolt - Toronto Sun
REPORT SAYS REPLACING COAL WILL SAVE BILLIONS
A NEW government-commissioned report appears to pave the way for more nuclear power in order to replace Ontario's smog-belching coal plants. The $110,000 cost-benefit analysis conducted by a group of consultants for Energy Minister Dwight Duncan suggests the hidden health and environmental costs of coal push its true price tag well above what people pay on their utility bill.

New Green Alliance changes name - CBC.ca/Saskatchewan

REGINA – The New Green Alliance has a new name, sort of.
Earlier this month, the provincial party that emphasizes social and environmental issues voted to change its name to the Green Party of Saskatchewan.

In a news release, the party described itself as an autonomous organization loosely affiliated with the Green Party of Canada.

The newly elected president of the Green Party of Saskatchewan is Regina's Victor Lau.


Is corporate Canada becoming 'environmentally correct'? - http://www.mba.athabascau.ca/
New book offers a positive view of Canada's progress toward environmental sustainability.

ST. ALBERT, AB, - Athabasca University's Centre forInnovative Management is pleased to announce the release of a new book, Emerging Dimensions of Environmental Sustainability: A Canadian Perspective of Innovative Practices, available through its Online Centre for Corporate Stewardship.

Edited by Dr. Anshuman Khare, Professor of Operations Management in Athabasca University's MBA program, this book provides a fascinating compilation of innovative approaches to sustainable development. It brings together the interests, efforts and commitment of several core faculty membersin Athabasca University's Centre for Innovative Management (CIM), notably Drs. Khare, Jim Dunn and Michael Mayo, as well as CIM's extended community ofMBA students, alumni and other corporate partners.

"To date, most books and reports on environmental sustainability have been about what can or should be done," says Dr. Khare. "What we need now aremore case studies and commentary on what is working well, including the smaller measures that add up to create a significant impact on long-term sustainability. This book provides a vehicle for Canadian practitioners toshare management practices that have proven successful in their organizations."

Dr. Dominique Abrioux, President of Athabasca University, states, "Readers interested in analyzing the complexities of environmental sustainability, with its often contradictory impact on the economy and society, will be drawn to this important work whose theoretical framework and diverse case studies argue that success, organizational sustainability, and even strategic advantage can come to businesses that consider environmentalsustainability an ally rather than a foe."

Emerging Dimensions of Environmental Sustainability: A Canadian Perspective of Innovative Practices is a rich resource for students andpractitioners of sustainable development, and adds significantly to the University's growing body of academic and applied research in the areas of sustainability, ethics and social responsibility. Says Don Macdonald, Senior Advisor on Climate Change for Alberta Environment, "This is an impressivecollection of environmental sustainability papers. This volume focuses on pragmatic, on-the-ground advances in this field and provides hope and encouragement that we truly are making progress towards sustainable development."

Emerging Dimensions of Environmental Sustainability: A Canadian Perspective of Innovative Practices is available at www.mba.athabascau.ca.

April 28, 2005

B.C. expecting busy fire season - Globe and Mail
British Columbians should be gearing up for another busy forest fire season, if preliminary findings by experts prove to be true.

According to one early forecast compiled by the Canadian Forest Service, the entire province of British Columbia and the province of Alberta will have an above-average wildfire season, followed by Ontario and Quebec, which are predicted to have an average-to-above average season. That forecast is based on relationships between the temperature of the ocean surface and the climate on land.

"The logic behind this method is that our ocean and atmosphere circulations are linked -- for example, [weather phenomenon] El Nïno," Mike Flannigan, a research scientist for the CFS, told globeandmail.com in a recent interview.

"Thus, changes in the oceans' [temperatures] influence our atmospheric circulation in Canada," he said.

'Extinct' bird flies again - Globe and Mail
The ivory-billed woodpecker, long-thought extinct, has been spotted in a remote section of Arkansas for the first time in more than half a century, according to new report.

Evidence of the bird's continued survival – documented by a team of researchers who published their findings in the journal Science Thursday – sent shock waves through the ornithological circles Thursday, with experts calling the find nothing short of a miracle.

“This is a miraculous discovery,” Tess Present, director of science for The Audubon Society in New York, told globeandmail.com.

CDC pushing new mosquito repellents - Globe and Mail
After years of promoting the chemical DEET as the best defence against West Nile-bearing mosquitoes, the U.S. government for the first time is recommending the use of two other insect repellents.

Repellents containing the chemical picaridin or the oil of lemon eucalyptus offer “long-lasting protection against mosquito bites,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that repellents with DEET remain on the agency's recommendation list.

“Since West Nile virus is present across the entire country at this point and it's here to stay, we constantly need to be vigilant,” said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC's division of vector-borne infectious diseases. “It gives consumers a better option to protect themselves.”

Study: Organic fruit and vegetable production - StatsCanada's The Daily
2000 to 2003

Canada's organic fruit and vegetable industry is expanding, but very slowly, and sales still represent a niche market in most parts of Canada, according to a new study.
Indications from the media and other sources show that consumer interest and demand for organic products is still growing. But it is clear that the emerging market for organic products is a great deal more complicated than it first appears, the study found.

It is also clear that new producers should not expect to automatically receive a premium price for organic fruit and vegetables unless they can produce a premium product and sell it in the right market.

The Vista on the Agri-Food Industry and the Farm Community Newsletter, April 2005, entitled "Niche market or an expanding industry? Organic fruit and vegetable production in Canada" (21-004-XIE, free) is now available online. From the Our products and services page, under Browse our Internet publications, choose Free, then Agriculture.

April 27, 2005

Maybe they can boycott camel products - The Telegraph
In Australia, it’s camels. They were imported to be used as pack animals, and then released into the outback, where they more than just multiplied. According to an Associated Press story, there are roughly 500,000 camels eating their way across the country’s grazing land. With no natural predators, the big mammals are making the most of being at the top of their own particular food chain, with camel numbers growing every year.

So, the Australian government is planning a camel hunt — or, more to the point, a camel cull. Thousands of the animals are to be shot from helicopters in an effort to stop the population growth of approximately 11 per cent per year.

Animal rights groups are outraged, saying that the idea of the hunt is cruel, that too many animals will be injured and not killed right away, and that the cull is nothing more than a “blood bath.”

N.D. senators reject Devils Lake review - Winnipeg Sun
WASHINGTON -- North Dakota's two senators rejected a proposal by Canadian officials yesterday that would allow an expedited independent review of the Devils Lake floodwater-diversion project. Canadian Treasury Board President Reg Alcock personally delivered a letter to Democratic senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan that said the International Joint Commission, an independent board that investigates water disputes along the border, has committed to review the project within the next year if the United States will allow it.
Canadian officials have said North Dakota's project, which would divert floodwater from Devils Lake into the Sheyenne River and ultimately the Red River, could harm waters north of the border. The outlet is scheduled to be finished this summer.

Planning needed - Straight Goods

The great philosopher and baseball coach Yogi Berra once said, "You've got to be very careful, if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."

Society has economic, social, and environmental goals. Of these three sustainable development pillars, the environment is probably fuzziest in our minds. Economics is straightforward — most people want at least enough money for basic needs, and ideally as much as possible. Social goals are simple also — good health, friendly neighbours, peace, and good government.

Exxon tiger in the think tanks - Straight Goods
Fraser Institute got $60 000 of Exxon's $8 million in donations to anti-climate-change research.

Exxon Mobil has pumped more than $8 million into more than 40 think tanks; media outlets; and consumer, religious, and even civil rights groups that preach skepticism about the oncoming climate catastrophe. Herewith, a representative overview.

The Cold Earth Society

Some key skeptics show up again and again in the echo chamber funded by Exxon Mobil.
URL 1: motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/05/exxon_chart.html URL 2: www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/05/world_burns.html

The Pioneer: An Interview With Jerome Ringo - MotherJones
Jerome Ringo is used to treading on new ground. As a child, he was the first and only African-American ranger at the world's largest Boy Scout camp. In 1998, he was the sole African-American delegate at the Global Warming Treaty negotiations in Kyoto. And earlier this April, he was sworn in as the Chairman of the National Wildlife Federation – the first African-American in history to chair a major conservation organization.

Ringo’s commitment to the environment dates back to his early childhood in the Bayous of Southern Louisiana, and was strengthened by his experience working in Louisiana's petrochemical industry for over two decades. He saw firsthand the harmful effects of that industry on local communities, which included many of his own family members. When his company offered him an “early retirement” in 1994 at the age of 39, he took his 22 years of experience and expanded his pursuit of environmental activism into a full-time affair.

Dozens of Words for Snow, None for Pollution - Mother Jones
Perched atop the Arctic food chain, the people of the Far North face an impossible choice: abandon their traditional foods, or ingest the rest of the world's poisons with every bite.

April 26, 2005
Editorial: PM should focus on activist agenda - Toronto Star <--- Such an idea In spite of widespread antipathy towards the Liberal party over the federal sponsorship scandal, Canadians gave Paul Martin the chance last June to implement an agenda they appeared to like.

It was a progressive and worthy agenda, focused largely on major improvements to health care, child care, more money for cash-strapped cities and communities, the needs of aboriginal Canadians and efforts to improve the environment.

Now that agenda is at risk, as Martin frantically struggles to keep his minority government afloat in the wake of falling public opinion polls and more damaging testimony from the inquiry into the sponsorship mess.


Forest exports to shrink, economist says - Vancouver Sun
A cooling U.S. housing market will shave some recent gains off B.C. forestry exports in 2005, Export Development Canada chief economist Stephen Poloz said Monday.

EDC said in its semi-annual global export forecast that forestry exports will fall five per cent this year and again next year, in line with slower growth in the United States.

The report added that strong growth in China, which boosted port activity by 11 per cent last year, "will soften the blow" for manufacturers in B.C. -- which led all provinces in export growth in 2004.

Salmon farms are mired in controversy - Vancouver Sun
The Issues: Fish Farming
Salmon farming has never strayed far from the headlines in British Columbia.

The aquaculture industry represents B.C.'s largest agricultural export and employs 4,000 people -- 90 per cent in coastal communities. A federal report estimated in 2004 that it could develop into a $3 billion industry, creating 47,000 jobs across Canada, within 10 years.

That won't happen, however, until the industry can shed the controversy that has dogged it since its inception in the late 1970s.

Canola seed cost makes farmers reconsider - Saskatoon Star/Phoenix
Kelvin Meadows had hoped to see the yellow bloom of canola across about 500 acres of his Moose Jaw-area farm this summer.

But the seed grower and farmer has cut his planned canola acres in half instead of footing a hefty seed bill.

Meadows and other farmer-directors with the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission say the escalating cost of treated canola seed -- combined with high fuel and fertilizer prices -- is putting the squeeze on canola growers. The price ranges as high as $6.50 a pound, costing about $30 an acre to seed, according to the commission.

New Study Confirms Benefits Of Replacing Coal-Fired Electricity In Ontario
Health And Environmental Damages Significantly Increase Costs To Province

QUEEN'S PARK, ON, April 27 - An independent study released today shows that replacing Ontario's coal-fired electricity generation will reduce health and environmental costs to the people of the province, Energy MinisterDwight Duncan said.

"Coal is costing the people of Ontario more than the number on theirelectricity bills," Duncan said. "This study shows the true cost of coal is inair pollution-related illness, hospital visits and pre-mature deaths. That's why we are committed to replacing coal-fired generation with cleaner sourcesof electricity."

The study found a relationship between increased air pollution due tocoal-fired electricity generation and up to 668 premature deaths, 928 hospitaladmissions, 1,100 emergency room visits and 333,660 minor illnesses such asheadaches, coughing and other respiratory symptoms, per year.

The study compared the financial, health and environmental costs of four different scenarios of electricity generation in Ontario. With an annual costof $4.4 billion, coal-fired electricity generation is significantly moreexpensive than the other options considered, the study found.

"Determining the health damages from existing coal-fired generation is acomplex task, because air pollution comes from many other sources, such as vehicle emissions and trans-boundary sources," said Peter Victor, one of theauthors of the study. "But our rigorous analysis of health and environmentalimpacts makes a strong case for replacing coal-fired generation in theprovince, spelling out the high costs of staying with the status quo." The study concludes that the lowest cost scenario for Ontario'selectricity future is a combination of refurbished nuclear and new natural gasgeneration. Including health and environmental impacts, this option would cost$1.9 billion annually - which is less than half the annual cost of existingcoal generation.

"This study shows why we must do everything we can to improve the qualityof our air and the health of our citizens, "Duncan said. "Our government willreplace coal-fired generation with cleaner sources of power in a responsiblemanner that protects both our electricity system and our environment."

The study was undertaken by DSS Management Consultants Inc., RWDI Air Inc. and Peter Victor, Professor and the former Dean in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, experts in emissions modeling andcost benefit analysis.

"Ontario's doctors are concerned about the health impacts of pollution on our patients and commend Minister Duncan for commissioning this importantanalysis," said Dr. Ted Boadway, Executive Director of Health Policy at theOntario Medical Association (OMA). "We have worked hard to develop tools that calculate the hidden health costs of air pollution and we applaud their usehere."

The complete study is available on the Ministry of Energy's website at www.energy.gov.on.ca .

On 19th anniversary of nuclear disaster, Greenpeace says... No More Chernobyls
TORONTO, April 26 /CNW Telbec/ - Greenpeace activists dressed as 'grimreapers' today commemorated the 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl nucleardisaster by carrying a coffin symbolic of Chernobyl victims to the headquarters of nuclear power plant operator Ontario Power Generation. Awreath was then delivered to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty who, Greenpeace says, has the power to ensure that a nuclear catastrophe never happens inOntario.

"Chernobyl is a lesson we can't afford to learn twice. The human and environmental cost has been too high" said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, GreenpeaceEnergy Campaigner. "Phasing out nuclear power will ensure that an accidentlike Chernobyl never happens in Ontario."

On the morning of April 26, 1986, a meltdown at the Chernobyl NuclearStation in Ukraine released more than 200 times the radioactivity of theHiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined.

Although only 31 people died immediately following the accident, estimates of the long-term death toll from Chernobyl range from 4,000 to over400,000. The accident contaminated over 140,000 square kilometers of land, andpermanently displaced 350,000 people. The cost to the economies of Ukraine,Belarus, and Russia has been hundreds of billions of dollars.

"The McGuinty government should let Ontario's reactors die a natural death by 2020" said Dave Martin, Greenpeace Energy Coordinator, "Ontario'stargets for conservation and renewable energy are one-half of what they shouldbe. Our children deserve a safe energy future."

Greenpeace opposes the McGuinty government's plan to rebuild 3 morereactors at the Pickering "A" station, and 2 more reactors at the Bruce "A"station -- Ontario's oldest and most accident-prone reactors. Ontario could befree of the nuclear threat in 15 years, by replacing nuclear plants with greenenergy as they reach the end of their 25-year lives.

Ontario should follow the lead of Germany, which decided in 2000 to phaseout its nuclear plants by 2020. Germany closed its first reactor in 2003 andhas installed over 15,000 megawatts of wind energy.

Visit http://www.greenpeace.ca/ for the following documents:
Background - No More Chernobyls - Why Canada should go Nuclear-Free By 2020


April 25, 2005

Lawyer for aboriginal holdouts calls pipeline talks futile - Edmonton Journal
There is no deal near to make northern aboriginal holdouts stop fighting the $7-billion Mackenzie Gas Project after months of peace talks described Monday by their lawyer as futile.
"The distance between the parties is pretty far," said Christopher Reid, a Toronto lawyer who has been chief negotiator and counsel for Deh Cho First Nations since 1999.

"It's the slowest process of negotiations I've ever been involved in," the veteran of 18 years in aboriginal law told an industry conference held by Insight Information Co.

Fed's Kyoto: Still a flawed plan - The Windsor Star
Read Ottawa's Kyoto plan and you can't escape it -- the word "Kyoto" has been reduced to a verbal charm, an incantation the federal Liberals chant to convince Canadians they really, really care about the environment. They've become more concerned with crossing Kyoto's arbitrary finish line than halting or even slowing global warming.

The feds' $10-billion blueprint, released April 13, is peppered with implicit admissions that Canada can't meet its Kyoto targets unless it: a) commits economic suicide; b) banks on individuals making impossible cuts; or c) buys a boatload of emissions credits from overseas.

Kyoto spending set to become another federal boondoggle - The Vancouver Province
Canada's plan to comply with the Kyoto Protocol has put Canadian taxpayers on a crash course with another potential Liberal spending boondoggle. And this one could top a whopping $10 billion, as Ottawa itself admits.

The plan outlines how the federal government intends to meet Canada's commitment to the global Kyoto accord. And what will taxpayers get for their money? Not very much, according to many observers, except for added debt on Ottawa's books.

Indeed, by signing on to Kyoto, the Liberals are putting our economy at substantial risk.