Archived Letter - 772

The Conservative government is embarassing Canadians yet again with the total disregard for our environment. Canada now ranks behind places like Hungary and Mexico, commanding the 58th spot - dead last - in the recent Climate Change Performance Index. Remember when former PM Paul Martin criticized the US for their lack of action? Now we rank benind them and have the distinguished honour of having PM Harper labeled the "earth's worst climate villain." The OECD also ranked us 28 out of 29 on 25 different environmental indicators and the Secretary General of the United Nations stated that Canada must do more on climate change. More? That is an understatement. Environment Canada's 2014 emission trend report, released this week, shows that Canada will also fail to meet its commitment to the Copenhagen Accord. In another dimension, according to the Conservative government's "Action on Climate Change" website, all is well: "Environment efforts extend beyond actions to address climate change." The Conservative government should have stopped the spin over the last decade and taken real action. Instead we have become a global laughing stock while leaving our children and grandchildren to deal with the fall-out.

Diane Ballantyne