Legislators around the globe demand climate-change action
This week, Canada’s House of Commons voted 161 to 113 to force the Conservative government to stick to its Kyoto Protocol greenhouse-gas emissions targets and punish over-polluting industries. Since taking power in 2006, the Conservatives have continually claimed that Kyoto targets would be simply impossible to reach, dahling, so why even try? The new measure, likely to easily pass the Liberal-dominated Senate, is binding and gives the big guns 60 days to follow through. If the Conservatives do nothing, a Canuck catfight could ensue; opposition parties could take the feds to court or issue a no-confidence vote to force a spring election. Down south, a coalition of legislators from the G8 nations and Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa ended a two-day D.C. summit with strong recommendations for emissions action from all countries “in line with our capabilities and historic responsibilities” and a demand that a post-Kyoto plan be in place by 2009. Who do these people think they are?
