The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
We learned last week that four provinces Ð Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba Ð are discussing the creation of a market-based trading system to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. The system would impose a hard cap on emissions, with producers over that level buying ÒcreditsÓ from those below the line. ItÕs an idea that has been endorsed by a wide range of thinkers, from environmentalists to economists, and the four provinces should be applauded for pursuing it. However, missing from the provincial coalition is Alberta, producer of 30 per cent of CanadaÕs greenhouse gas emissions. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said at the conclusion of the conference that it would be preferable for the federal government to introduce a cap-and-trade system for the whole country, including Alberta. Unfortunately, added McGuinty, while cap-and-trade systems are being embraced by both Europeans and the Americans, our federal government Òsuffer(s) from a poverty of ambition.Ó Quite. Ottawa says it is working on a national cap-and-trade system, but we havenÕt seen it yet. However, we have been told that it will not include a hard cap on emissions. Rather, there will be ÒintensityÓ targets. For example, oil companies will be expected to produce fewer emissions per barrel of oil at the tar sands, but overall emissions will still be allowed to climb as the total number of barrels increases. The governmentÕs critics say this sort of Òsoft capÓ is incompatible with an effective cap-and-trade system. Rather than deal directly with this criticism, however, the federal government has responded with the sort of partisan cheap shot that has all too often been the trademark of Stephen HarperÕs Ottawa. Citing McGuintyÕs own failure to close OntarioÕs coal-fired power plants by his self-imposed deadline of 2007, a spokesperson for federal Environment Minister John Baird declared: ÒI think Premier McGuinty needs to worry about a lack of action on his own part and get his own house in order before he starts throwing bricks at others.Ó That kind of retort may win debating points, but it doesnÕt move the country very far on the climate change file. Sooner or later, the federal government is going to have to recognize that there is an elephant in the room on climate change, and itÕs not Ontario. Rather, it is Alberta.
