Environment Minister David Anderson is hoping that Canada will be able to ratify the Kyoto agreement limiting emissions of greenhouse gases as early as June 1.
Mr. Anderson picked the June target date because it is just before this year's meeting of leaders of the G8 industrialized countries, to be held in the Alberta mountain resort of Kananaskis.
Ratification before the G8 gathering would allow Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to reap the maximum international publicity from the decision.
The treaty calls for Canada to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases by 6 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
Adopting the treaty may also allow the government to deflect criticism by environmental and antiglobalization advocates who are expected to demonstrate against the Kananaskis meeting.
"I would like to be able to give the Prime Minister all the best information that I can at that time" so the treaty can be ratified before the June date, Mr. Anderson said.
Canada currently emits about 700 million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, mainly from carbon dioxide and methane. In 1990, it was 607 million tonnes, indicating that Canada will have to adopt major changes in using fossil fuels to achieve the reduction target.
Because of Canada's northerly location, most scientists believe the country will be one of the most affected if the planet warms, changing the composition of the earth's atmosphere, as a result of human activity.
Already, ice in the Arctic is thinning, polar bears in some areas appear malnourished and mountain glaciers are melting, among other deleterious impacts of the modest one degree rise in global temperatures that has occurred in the last century.
Yesterday, two prominent environmental organizations, the World Wildlife Fund and the David Suzuki Foundation, said two of Canada's most biologically rich areas in the north, the low Arctic tundra and the Slave Lake boreal forests, will be among the worst hit areas of the world because of global warming.
If the cabinet doesn't ratify the pact in June, Mr. Anderson said the government will try again just before this year's big United Nations environmental summit.
The event is symbolically important because it marks the 10th anniversary of the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro. This year's meeting is scheduled for late August in Johannesburg.
Mr. Anderson said the federal government doesn't want to formally enact the Kyoto accord until it finishes consulting the provinces and industry groups about the treaty, a process that is now underway, and is expected to be completed this year.
"What we needed to hear is the ratification date, when Canada will ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Anything less is fiddling while the planet fries," said Dan McDermott, director of the Sierra Club's Eastern Canada chapter.
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