Canada lowers targets they have no plans to meet

It is all too apparent that Harper and his oil-loving backers are looking for any excuse to lower, eliminate or just ignore any substantial committment to preventing climate change disaster. We need to continue to build a coalition that will bring down Harper and replace him with representatives with a commitment to the common good and our common survival.

Also, there is this new facebook group:
Canadians Against Canada's Climate Plan

The below is exerpted from the Globe and Mail (emphasis added)

The federal government formally notified the United Nations that Canada will cut its carbon emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels over the next 10 years as part of the Copenhagen accord on climate change, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Saturday.

But a spokesman for Greenpeace says these targets will actually increase emissions, not lower them.

 The Canadian targets are similar to those of the United States, something the federal government planned all along, Mr. Prentice said.

“Throughout the Copenhagen negotiations we maintained that our clear policy was to support the outcome of Copenhagen and also to align our clean-energy and climate-change policies with those of the Obama administration,” he said.

Although reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 17 per cent will be challenging, Mr. Prentice said he believes it is attainable. He didn't offer any specifics about which actions would be taken to achieve those cuts.

“We'll deal specifically with the oil sands, we'll deal specifically with all sources of emissions, but today the objective of this announcement is to fulfill our obligations under the accord,” he said. “We know we can achieve that target, we're prepared to stand behind it and other countries will now have to do the same.”

While the government's previous emission targets, announced in 2006, would have resulted in a 3-per-cent reduction in emissions over 1990 levels, these latest targets will actually increase emissions by 2.5 per cent, said Dave Martin, a climate and energy co-ordinator with Greenpeace.

“We're heading in exactly the opposite direction that we need to head,” Mr. Martin said. “Not only have they reneged on the target that they adopted a couple of years ago, they have also failed to put in place the regulations that they promised last year.”

 He said the lack of details on how to achieve those emission cuts is indicative of the real problem the Conservative government has with the climate change issue.

 “I think they're really beholden to the oil and gas industry in Alberta and they don't want to address how to make serious reductions to protect the planet and the environment,” Mr. Martin said.

See commentary on this issue at Canadians for Climate Change Action.