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Sunday, October 01, 2006
Letters Editor, National Post
300 - 1450 Don Mills Road
Don Mills
Ontario, M3B 3R5
Re: Liberals Hurt Green Progress: Report
Dear Editor,
Paul Vieira is to be commended for quickly commenting on the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development’s on the federal government’s climate change initiatives. Unfortunately it appears he may not have had time to read it.
Mr. Vieira states that the report reveals that “Former Liberal governments promoted the Kyoto climate change protocol but failed to perform any analysis as to whether Canada could meet its obligations under the pact and what economic impact that might entail”
This statement is simply false. A search of the Commissioners report reveals she does not make that claim either. I can assure Mr. Vieira, as a participant in the National Climate Change Process (NCCP) established in 1997 by the former federal government, that a great deal of economic analysis was undertaken. The analysis was quite well documented and is still available to the public at the NCCP website (www.nccp.ca).
I do not intend to suggest the results of the analysis were conclusive and correct. They depended on a vast array of input data subject to error and misinterpretation. However, an intricate analysis basis was established using computer models of Canada’s economy and energy infrastructure. I instigated some reanalysis of the role the nuclear industry could play in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. That analysis too is available to the public at the website of the Canadian Nuclear Association.
In summary, the NCCP did bring together much expertise to evaluate the impact the Kyoto protocol would have on Canada’s economy. A rational basis for continuing analysis was established. Mr. Vieira needs to step back and undertake a little study before he steps forth to tell us what has happened and is happening.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast