Gore Urges Canada to Take Action on Climate Change

Former Vice President Al Gore brought his campaign against climate change to Canada Thursday night, speaking before a packed room at the Canada 2020 policy conference in Mont Tremblant, Quebec.

"Never before has the future of earth been put at such risk” said the former vice-president. “I hope you will make sure Canada does not go back on Kyoto ratification. Trust me, you do not want a ‘made in Texas’ Kyoto plan."

The Harper government has made no secret of its desire to scrap Canada’s commitments to the Kyoto Protocol, favoring instead a “Made in Canada” solution. Environment Minster Rona Ambrose spent just 24 hours in Bonn as chair of a 12-day UN Conference on Climate Change, and media reports indicate Environment Minister Rona Ambrose covertly instructed Canada’s delegation to derail Kyoto in favour of putting voluntary emissions reductions in place at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bonn.

In an impassioned speech, Mr. Gore outlined the science behind global warming and warned Canadians that the issue of climate change is too urgent to be left off the government’s agenda.
"People assume the earth is so big that human beings can't have any lasting impact. That is not so anymore," he said. "928 peer-reviewed scientific articles say global warming is real."
Yukon MP Larry Bagnell has seen the realities of global warming firsthand.
“I know the members for Western Arctic and Nunavut would agree with me that there are dramatic changes in the north,” said Mr. Bagnell. “The ice roads are melting and species are becoming extinct. Polar bears, which people depend on for their livelihoods, are moving. The mountain pine beetle and Spruce beetle are coming to Yukon. This is a very real and urgent problem.”

Mr. Gore praised Canada’s past environmental leadership, citing the historic 1987 Montreal protocol on the depletion of the ozone layer as an example.
"The depletion of CFCs is an environmental success story and Canada hosted that first conference,” he said

Mr. Gore urged Canadians to demand that the Conservative government take action to combat global warming.

"I hope you will ensure Canada restores its tradition and moral authority to help us save this," he said. “I hope what has happened in the US won't repeat itself here. I don't think it will. I don't think the Bush-Cheney-Harper administration will last."