Canada is already seen as having Russia, Saudi Arabia and other similar states as its principal allies on climate change – any attempt to present itself as a more constructive country on this issue will be seen as the farce it is.
The task for those wishing to move the issue forward, in Canada or internationally, is on the one hand to keep up the pressure from movements, and on the other hand to get creative in leveraging strategically astute national governments and their negotiators at the UN process.
In the face of these challenges the Minister of Natural Resources reacted by repeating the untruth that Keystone XL will not increase GHG emissions. Our federal government has stuck its head back in the tar sands.
Even though Canada has an abundance of clean energy resources and the potential to find the innovative capacity to take advantage of them, the staples mentality informs the federal government’s policy and politics.
