MAY: Canada missed deadline for Paris climate talks!

[Oscar]

WATCH: MAY: Is Canada on track for the Paris climate talks?

[ http://elizabethmaymp.ca/news/2015/03/2 ... oceedings/ ]

Elizabeth May demands answers to question on Canadian targets from MP Colin Carrie

March 24, 2015

Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pursue a question I asked of the Minister of the Environment on January 26. It was my first opportunity to raise with the Minister of the Environment and the House the results of the meetings of the Conference of the Parties at the Framework Convention on Climate Change. It was COP20, which occurred in Lima, Peru in December.

In the terms of the agreement to which Canada has agreed, countries that are ready to do so would provide their targets and planned actions under a basket of terms now in the UN lingo called INDCs, intended nationally-determined contributions, no later than the end of the first quarter of 2015. Next week, March 31, is when Canada’s statement of intentions are due. I would certainly hope Canada would want to fulfill its responsibilities with the rest of the industrialized world.

I will back up in terms of why this is so critical. Members of the House will recall that the negotiations that took place in Copenhagen, at what was then the 15th conference of the parties, were not successful. However, there was a kind of patched together side deal called the Copenhagen accord, which the current Conservative administration greeted favourably. That approach was launched by President Barack Obama in sort of a backroom deal with other nations, in which a two-page agreement was provided to world leaders, such as our Prime Minister, with an approach that was basically fill in the blanks, “This country will sign on, and this country will reduce by x amount by x year our greenhouse gas emissions”...

[Watch Speech...and the 'hot air' reply!].


Elizabeth May, MP
518 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A0A6
Canada

[Oscar]

WATCH: Elizabeth May's statement on Canada's UN climate commitments

[ http://elizabethmaymp.ca/elizabeth-may- ... mmitments/ ]

March 31, 2015

Mr. Speaker, today, March 31, is the deadline for those nations that are ready to do so to table climate commitments with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in advance of COP 21. Yesterday in question period the minister confirmed that Canada was not ready and would miss this deadline. The excuse that was offered was that we were a federation and we were checking with the provinces and territories.

Of the 33 nations that, as of today, have met this and have filed their intended nationally determined contributions with the UN, the European Union had 28 separate nation states with which to consult, confer and develop a plan, and it met the deadline.

The minister said yesterday that we had until December. That is not correct. By October, the UN system will have calculated the cumulative total of all commitments to see if it is sufficient to avoid 2°C.

At this point, we are missing our obligations to the world, to Canadians and to our children.

[Oscar]

Canada misses end of March deadline for announcing its contribution to global efforts to reduce carbon pollution

[ http://climateactionnetwork.ca/2015/04/ ... pollution/ ]

April 7, 2015

Ottawa, Canada. April 1, 2015. Canada, as part of the ongoing United Nations climate negotiations, should have announced by the end of March its plan for contributing to global efforts to reduce carbon pollution. We’ve written Prime Minister Stephen Harper to offer advice on what a comprehensive contribution to the Paris climate negotiations should look like.

We believe three Rs should define Canada’s approach to climate protection: Respect, Responsibility and Restraint.

Respect requires humility in accepting the scientific facts that tell us the atmosphere has a limit to the amount of carbon pollution it can take before shifting in ways that put people and the environment we rely on at risk.

Responsibility requires accepting that we should care about the harm climate disruption will bring, especially to the most vulnerable at home and around the world, and to doing our fair share to stop it.

Restraint requires that we accept that we must set ambitious, enforceable targets to manage carbon pollution at home and to invest around the world to help others reduce their carbon pollution and to adapt to climate change.

(LINKS on URL above)
View / Download INDCCanadaReleaseApril1_2015 (319 kB) application
View / Download LetterINDC-PMO-Final-March2015 (316 kB) application
View / Download INDCBackgrounderFinalMarch2015 (294 kB) application

Filed Under: Campaigns, International Policy, News Releases

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WATCH: Elizabeth May's statement on Canada's UN climate commitments

[ http://elizabethmaymp.ca/elizabeth-may- ... mmitments/ ]

March 31, 2015

Mr. Speaker, today, March 31, is the deadline for those nations that are ready to do so to table climate commitments with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in advance of COP 21. Yesterday in question period the minister confirmed that Canada was not ready and would miss this deadline. The excuse that was offered was that we were a federation and we were checking with the provinces and territories.[ . . . ]