OTTAWA - The federal government is no longer interested in ratifying the Kyoto Agreement on climate change by June, Herb Dhaliwal, the Minister of Natural Resources, said yesterday.
Mr. Dhaliwal said there is no way the government can complete its study of the issue by June. David Anderson, the Minister of the Environment, said as recently as last month June was a target date.
"No way we'll be ready to make a decision by June of this year," Mr. Dhaliwal said flatly yesterday after Question Period in the House of Commons. "I think we'll be looking at a later date. June certainly is not a realistic date now."
Mr. Anderson has said the federal government will not ratify the controversial agreement without extensive consultation with business, environmental groups and provincial governments, but he has also said Ottawa may go ahead even if some of those groups are opposed.
In early February, Mr. Anderson said he hoped Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, would be in a position to announce Canada's agreement to Kyoto at or just before the G7 meeting of major industrial countries in June in Kananaskis, Alta. That would allow the government to reap maximum international publicity.
"I would like to be able to give the Prime Minister all the best information that I can at that time," Mr. Anderson said then.
But Mr. Dhaliwal, who as natural resources minister is the lead minister for the oilpatch, said there is too much work to be done to get to that point in just over two months.
"I don't believe we'll be able to do all the due diligence that's required to sign a deal in June," he said.
Mr. Anderson's fallback date for a ratification announcement is September, when the Kyoto signatories gather in Johannesburg for a tenth-anniversary meeting on global climate change. The first worldwide climate deal, based on voluntary measures, was reached in Brazil.
The Kyoto Agreement attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a system of targets for signatory countries. Canada has tentatively agreed to reduce emissions to 6% below 1990 levels. The U.S. plan, which is much less aggressive, calls for a cut in the growth of emissions.
ijack@nationalpost.com
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