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Environment

Ottawa and BC sign climate change agreement

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The federal government and province of British Columbia have signed an agreement to tackle climate change.

Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the agreement is a key step toward a national, coherent climate change approach.

Prentice says the agreement will avoid the duplication of regulatory measures and adds the federal government is working closely with other provinces and territories to harmonize strategies.

But Ian Bruce of the David Suzuki Foundation says while it's encouraging to see individual provinces spurring the federal government to act, still more needs to be done.

Bruce says Canada is falling far behind the rest of the world in its clean energy spending and he's calling for a much-talked about plan that includes a cap on industrial emissions to finally be put in place.

Although the Conservative government has abandoned the international Kyoto agreement on climate change, the government says it's committed to reducing the country's total greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020 and is investing billions of dollars to protect the environment through stimulus programs.

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3  Comments:

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  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Campbell and Harper? Oh my

    I bet our emissions increase.

    I bet they increase a lot.

  • freebear

    2 years ago

    Agree to ignore issue?

    More greenwash to come I bet!

  • Sask Resident

    2 years ago

    Carbon, What Carbon

    Wasn't this the same Ian Bruce of the David Suzuki Foundation that blamed climate change for the lack of snow for the Olympics? Take a look today, still because of climate change?

    Transportation causes between 25% and 30% of guesstimated CO2 emissions, with rail and heavy trucks also sources of particulates. BC has lots of natural gas, why not use it on the roads and rail like BC attempted in the 1980s when oil was only 6 times the price of nat gas?

    Conservation is still the big winner, insulate buildings and add shallow geo-thermal heating and cooling as much as possible.

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