Statement made on 31 October 2007 by Senator Frank Mahovlich
Hon. Francis William Mahovlich:
Honourable senators, I rise today to ask a question to the Leader of the Government in the Senate about the very important issues of the environment, climate change and the Kyoto Protocol.
On October 25, when Senator Tkachuk spoke on this same topic, he referred to an article by Gwyn Prins and Steve Rayner entitled "Time to Ditch Kyoto," which was published in the British science journal, Nature.
In that article, the authors talk of how the Kyoto Protocol has failed to fight climate change. They talk of how the less than 20 of the 194 countries in the world that are responsible for about 80 per cent of the world's emissions — one of which is our very own home and native land — have failed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The authors stress that there is a great need for increased spending on clean energy research and development. In their words, spending on research and development should be "on a wartime footing."
As an example, the U.S. spends about $80 billion per year on military research. Messrs. Prins and Rayner argue that an equal amount should go toward finding ways to decarbonize the global energy system.
I believe, as the article states, there is no silver-bullet solution to climate change; rather, a multi-pronged, silver-buckshot approach may be better. Either way, the issue cannot be ignored and must be acted upon immediately. The issue of climate change is an important matter, one that affects Canadians of all political stripes. It is my hope that the government will not side-step this issue.
To bring the point home, John Baird, the Minister of the Environment, has said that the government intends to forge ahead with its own strategy for reducing greenhouse gases domestically while working with other countries on long-term solutions.
My question to the government leader is as follows: When will the government rise to the challenge and tell Canadians how it plans to reduce greenhouse gases?
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