As the public anxiously awaits the U.S. State Department’s final decision on the fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the discussion has largely ignored the elephant in the room: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA.)
Thanks to NAFTA, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the State Department will likely be able to do little more than stall the pipeline’s construction. In its simplest form, NAFTA removes barriers for North American countries wishing to do business in or...
read more
Comments
Canada is the bad guy now eh?
Canada is the bad guy now eh? - well at least we have some help from the US in the wearing of black hats
"U.S. President Barack Obama was once thought to be leading the charge towards a new climate pact but environmentalists believe he is facing increasing pressure to blunt any agreement on greenhouse gases that costs corporate America too much money."
I would be proud to be a Canadian
I can't believe how vicious and slanderous these articles are! "Deadly" fossil fuels? Pockets in the hands of corporate America! Richard, Al Gore is corporate America, Goldman Sachs is corporate America and Enron was corporate America
richard what did the kyoto protocol do?
richard, what did the kyoto protocol accomplish? Nobody even hit any of the target emissions levels. Why does anyone think these stupid agreements are about reducing global warming all they end up being are tax increases
Canada never tried.
Canada never tried. The Liberal governments were lazy and negligent, but the Harper government is actively destructive. Harper and his band of stupid anti-science creationists is an embarrassment to all Canadians.
they may be a stupid band of
they may be a stupid band of anti science creationists, but they know this much: Canada is an oil exporting nation and oil exports bring wealth and wealth is a neat thing to have when you are writing a bunch of welfare cheques.
The fools running my own
The fools running my own province of Alberta have been giving the stuff away cheap and leaving us with a poisoned environment that will be damned expensive to clean up. The fools running my country are aiding and abetting this crime. Greed is bad.
Different perspectives
I have a lot of respect for this blog and interestingly most of the liberal policies that come out of Canada. As an American it's nice to see a neighbor being able to provide health care, but unfortunately the climate change agenda is a pretty basic one, each and every country strictly looks out for its own self interest. I wish the USA and Canada would get out front of the entire movement, in 25 the Chinese and India will need the technology that we all could be developing now to slow global warming and cure the environment.
You need a cure all right
Try a dose of real science, such as the discussions at WUWT or CA, where you get honest dialogue on the latest climate theories.
By the way, CO2 is a non issue.
So if you want to cure something, try curing the USA's fiancial troubles.
I will vote for Harper based on this
I like his no nonsense approach. Imagine, if the Libs get in, we will destroy our economy for a falsified CO2 warming theory.
CO2 is our friend.
Al Gore, Suzuki, Greenpeace, are all bogus, as they spead falshoods. Did you believe Greenpeace when it said that the Greenland ice pack would dissapear by 2030?(the ex CEO said is was false, but it raises lots of money) Has Suzuki issued an amendment to his suggestion that the Arctic would be ice free soon? Has Al Gore apologized to millions of kids about exaggerated claims that the Polar bear is threatened? Nope.. just silence, despite the evidence they are wrong.
It is time to get rid of junk science and get back to basics.
I would expect the Libs and ND parties NEVER to get it though, as they are seriously hooked on AGW cool aid.
Nonsense,
from your post it's crystal clear that you would vote for Harper's Conservative Party in any case. Never mind that the only way you could actually vote for Harper himself is if you reside in the riding of Calgary Southwest, but then expecting you to actually know something about the Canadian Parliamentary system is a stretch.
Barking up the wrong tree
For some of our knuckledragging commenters, to suggest that the Kyoto Protocol did not work because no country met their targets is exactly the logical equivalent of accusing someone of cheating on their 2012 taxes. The only country that is clearly not going to comply with the Kyoto Protocol is Canada.
But for Littlemore to suggest that Canada's position is uniquely offensive is a serious distortion. If anything, the offense comes from being blunt on what Canada is actually willing to agree to. The US is not a party to the Kyoto Protocol. None of the Annex I parties to the Kyoto Protocol are willing to go forward with a 2nd phase without the US, and the US has been clear in Bangkok that they will not join the Kyoto Protocol. The US wants an agreement that includes all major emitters (i.e. China and India). The G77 developing world bloc is quite willing to make statements about climate urgency yet spout formulaic statements about common but differentiated responsibilities. Canada's position bluntly supports the US position, whereas the EU is being less transparent - but are still being attacked by the G77 for having that same fundamental position.
At the end of the day, the only countries that are committed to an extension of the Kyoto Protocol as a negotiating position are ones that also to refuse taking any commitments at all.
Two negative ratings, zero
Two negative ratings, zero explanation or response.
Here is a reasonable article from that noted right wing denialist publication the Guardian, which outlines the basic alignment of the US and Europe with exactly the position which prompted the walkout.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/07/kyoto-copenhagen-un-climate-change
In keeping with ConScam,
In keeping with ConScam, which is the Harper government misappropriating taxpayer dollars to advertise the Conservative party; when you go to Environment Canada's website, there is a big ugly photo of Van Loan, Cannon, Prentice and Harper at the top. Why are those partisan hacks on the Environment Canada website?
We told Jim
Iggy, on the other hand seems
Iggy, on the other hand seems convinced that green is the way to power. We shall see, but for now it seems like Iggy alone has an appetite for an election so the green question will have to be put on the back burner for a while.