MOSCOW - Canada's premiers lined up with George Bush yesterday in opposition to the Kyoto climate treaty, leaving an uncomfortable Jean Chrétien to defend Canada's support for the controversial accord.
At a news conference in Moscow, where the Prime Minister and the premiers are on a trade mission, Ralph Klein surprised Mr. Chrétien by reading a letter the premiers had sent him -- but he had not yet received -- outlining their concerns about the treaty.
"To save him some time, I'll read it to him," the Alberta Premier told reporters.
"The government of Canada's position is not consistent with the position of all the premiers and territorial leaders," Mr. Klein said as Mr. Chrétien looked on in obvious discomfort.
Only Bernard Landry, the separatist Premier of Quebec, came to the Prime Minister's defence, saying his province supports the treaty and did not sign the letter.
Just moments before Mr. Klein's revelation, the Prime Minister had spoken in favour of the treaty to cut greenhouse gases. Ottawa had promised to ratify it this year, providing Canada gets credits for exporting clean-burning natural gas to the United States.
With Mr. Bush demanding major changes in the treaty, Mr. Klein said Canada cannot ratify it unless Washington does. To do otherwise would seriously harm the economy, he said. "We don't want our climate change response to put Canada at a competitive disadvantage," he said.
Mr. Klein said the premiers who signed the letter are troubled by Ottawa's claims the treaty would cost the economy $500-million a year. Canada's oil and gas industry puts the figure at $4.5-billion.
Mr. Bush, who withdrew from the Kyoto treaty last year, has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 18% in 10 years by giving companies incentives to cut emissions, finding alternative forms of energy, promoting conservation and increasing research and development for technology to reduce pollution.
Under the Kyoto protocol, Canada is to cut greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2010, although it has not yet produced a plan to do so.
Mike Harris, the Ontario Premier, also weighed in, saying Canada cannot afford to adopt a different approach than the United States, the country's major trading partner.
While the Prime Minister was caught off guard by the premiers' ambush, he refused to back down.
He said he does not want to hurt the economy but that Canada must do its part to reduce greenhouse gases that are believed to cause global warming.
"We said that we want to sign," Mr. Chrétien said. "We want to do that in a way that will not cause a big problem in the disruption of the Canadian economy. Obviously there is a debate about what is the level of what will be the costs, but there is a price to be paid to make sure we have around the globe ... better climate conditions."
In their letter to the Prime Minister, the premiers said they recognize the need to reduce greenhouse gases but called for new technological measures rather than mandatory industry-wide reductions of carbon dioxide emissions.
"We are concerned that ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and Canada's response to climate change could impact competitiveness and, in turn, employment, economic growth and investment opportunities across Canada," the letter said.
There appears to be some confusion within the federal government despite Mr. Chrétien's strong support of Kyoto, which the premiers fear could be ratified at the G8 summit of industrialized countries in Kananaskis, Alta., in June.
David Anderson, the federal Environment Minister, said on Thursday Canada remains committed to the treaty, but didn't repeat previous statements by federal officials that the treaty will be ratified this year. Rather, he said a decision on ratification will be made this year.
"We want to ratify the Kyoto protocol, but we will not do it -- we cannot do it -- without having consultations with provinces and territories, interested groups and the public."
Mr. Chrétien said last year Canada intended to ratify the treaty in 2002.
However, Mr. Anderson expressed disappointment that the Bush administration is still questioning the science of climate change, and suggested the measures announced by the United States on Thursday are not sufficient.
Environmental groups also panned the Bush initiative. The Sierra Club of Canada referred to the Bush plan as a valentine for big oil and coal.
"The so-called plan announced by the United States is really no more than crafty rhetoric to mask inaction," said John Bennett, the group's climate campaigner.
The David Suzuki Foundation called on Canada to strongly oppose the Bush initiative, while Steven Guilbeault of Greenpeace said he is worried the U.S. plan will weaken the federal government's adherence to Kyoto.
"The Liberals' commitment to Kyoto ratification is certainly confused and under attack."
Mr. Bush's proposed budget allocates US$4.5-billion for items related to global climate change, a figure the administration said would be a US$700-million increase.
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