Canada

WARSAW, Poland — UN climate talks head into a tense final week Monday after the diplomatic effort to reduce global warming gases was hit by a series of setbacks, including Japan’s decision to ditch its voluntary emissions target. The two-decade-old negotiations have so far failed to achieve their goal of slashing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that scientists say are warming the planet. They don’t seem to be getting any closer after a tumultuous first week at this year’s session in Warsaw.

Canada no longer knows how to sell anything to the world except oil and gas. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but if things keep going the way they are, it won't be for long. StatsCan’s latest numbers on Canada’s trade balance, released Thursday, look positive on the face of it: Exports and imports both grew, and Canada’s trade deficit with the world shrank by more than half, to $435 million. But dig a little deeper into the data, and what you see is a story of two different export sectors.

Canada has fallen behind in a global ranking on international development initiatives and ranks last when it comes to environmental protection. The Washington-based Center for Global Development assesses 27 wealthy nations annually on their commitment to seven areas that impact the world’s poor. Canada came 13th in this year’s survey, which will be released Monday. Denmark led the list, followed by Sweden and Norway, with Japan and South Korea at the bottom.

The annual United Nations climate conference, known as the 19th Conference of the Parties or COP 19, is underway in Warsaw with considerably less fanfare than years past. Expectations for this one are even lower than usual, after the disappointments and plodding progress of the last few conferences. World leaders are backing away from the 2015 target for a global climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, and the news for people concerned about climate change has not been encouraging.

A pair of Vancouver high school students have written an open letter to Canadian Geographic in protest of the magazine delivering educational materials funded by oil and gas producers to classrooms.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford isn’t this country’s only global embarrassment; Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s appalling record on the environment and contempt for international diplomacy has also shamed Canada around the world. Though governments everywhere have handed over their national agenda to corporate interests, Harper’s conflation of the two has been total. His abject servitude to business, especially the oil industry, knows no bounds.

Enclosed are three news articles that review the challenging prospects for Alberta’s tar sands producers. They face a daunting future as rival U.S. oil production surges and opposition grows to the three pipeline routes which they and their pipeline allies are struggling to construct–Keystone XL to the south, Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain to the west, and Energy East to the east.

...After a billion litres of coal slurry leaked from the old Obed Mountain mine’s “containment” pond into the Athabasca River without anyone noticing, McQueen assured Albertans, “We have very strict environmental standards in this province, and they’re all being followed.” So “strict” adherence to Alberta’s rigorous environmental standards has resulted in what may be the biggest spill of pollutants in Canadian history. Again we see a complete disconnect between the minister’s words and reality.

Canada has dropped any remaining pretences of supporting global action on climate change by urging other countries to follow Australia's example in gutting its climate plan. In a formal statement, the Canadian government said it "applauds" the move by Australia this week to repeal a carbon tax on the country's 300 biggest polluters. "Canada applauds the decision by prime minister Abbott to introduce legislation to repeal Australia's carbon tax.

The cradle-to-grave cost to Canadian taxpayers to acquire new warships will exceed $100-billion, the federal government says – tens of billions of dollars more than Ottawa has previously disclosed. It is the first time the federal government has gone public with its best guess on the full life-cycle cost of up to 15 surface combat vessels. The political demand for transparency has changed in Ottawa since a controversy over the true cost of a plan to buy F-35 fighter jets, and the Harper government feels pressure to open the books.