Ambrose Uses Summit Platform To Attack Opposition Parties, Previous Government

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Nairobi, Kenya - The Kyoto Protocol is being used to divide Canada, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose told the UN Climate Conference in a speech that outraged environmentalists and opposition critics.
Addressing delegates from some 180 countries, Ambrose blamed the previous government for Canada’s poor performance in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

She suggested the Conservatives have taken a leap forward with their Clean Air Act, although all three opposition parties have said they cannot pass the bill in its current form. “There are some who are using the Kyoto Protocol to create divisions within our country, but we will not let that happen,” Ambrose said. “Canada has one target and we all share the responsibility to work together to fulfil our obligations.” She did not mention that the Conservative government has rejected Canada’s current target under the Kyoto Protocol as unachievable, and has yet to name a new one.

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Some parts of Ambrose’s speech seemed to go farther than her previous statements in support for Kyoto. “Our plan also recognizes the need for urgent action so that we can finally make progress towards our 2012 international obligations.” When the Conservatives were in opposition they denied that climate change was a problem and attacked the Liberals for having signed the Kyoto treaty at all. But Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute said he was not sure what Ambrose meant. “Which obligations? Are you saying you are going to do everything you possibly can to meet the target or are you talking about something else?”

Questioned on the point later by reporters, Ambrose said: “It means the urgency to set in place our short-term targets which is why we are presently negotiating with industry sectors as we speak, to get those targets in place.” Bramley said it was jarring to hear a partisan political speech at an international forum like the climate conference. But Ambrose accused the opposition parties of being partisan. One veteran activist said she could not speak because she was too angry.

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