PM hurts Canada by leaving climate off agenda: May

The decision by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to keep climate change off the agenda when leaders of the world's most powerful nations gather in Ontario is unprecedented and hurts Canada's credibility, Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, said yesterday.




May, speaking at a news conference in Victoria, was flanked by Nobel Prize co-winner Andrew Weaver, a University of Victoria professor and Canada Research Chair in climate modeling, as she called for the federal government to reinstate climate change on the agenda for the G8 and G20 summits to be held in Ontario next month.



"We haven't had a G8 or G20 summit in over 20 years when climate change was not on the agenda," May said.



"It's only because Stephen Harper is hosting this meeting that this is possible and the rest of the world is stunned."



Previous summits have included a meeting of environment ministers, giving them a chance to debate their positions on climate change face to face.



There is mounting pressure from the European Union and United Nations to include climate change and May said she has been in touch with G20 ambassadors to Canada who are horrified at the omission.



"It has never happened before that a G20 summit has been hijacked by a host government which refused to put a critical issue on the agenda," said May, who is calling for Vancouver Island residents to mobilize and put pressure on the federal government.



May, who is running in Saanich-Gulf Islands in the next federal election, will be one of the speakers at a rally to be held June 7 at Alix Goolden Hall which will push for a "green economy and climate sanity."



"If we make our call as citizens, before the summits begin, our pressure will be joined by internal diplomatic efforts which I know are ongoing, to get Canada to open the agenda and allow world governments to address world issues," May said.



Weaver said, especially in light of the latest report from the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy which rates Canada's low carbon performance as sixth out of the G8 countries, there is a staggering disconnect between science and policy in Canada.



"The policies we have in place in Canada make it impossible to stay below the two degree [increase in temperature] threshold," Weaver said.



"I am here to support Elizabeth May and her call to get Canada to put climate change on the G8 and G20 agendas."



Although the economy -- the focus of the summits -- is important, climate change is the most important issue facing the world today, May said.



Others calling for Canada to host a meeting of environment ministers include the federal NDP and environmental organizations, who say a face-to-face meeting is essential before the UN climate change conference is held in Mexico in November.