Green group accuses Conservatives of ignoring Kyoto law
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 | 2:58 PM ET
CBC News
The federal government is ignoring a law requiring it to comply with the Kyoto Protocol and defying the will of Parliament, according to lawyers for an environmental group that has taken the accusation to court.
Lawyers for the non-profit group Friends of the Earth appeared before a Federal Court judge in Toronto Wednesday, asking for a court order to force Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government to follow the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, passed by Parliament a year ago.
"I'm looking at this from a rule of law perspective," the group's lawyer Chris Paliare said.
"The fact that we have a minority government doesn't mean that the Ministry of the Environment can act as if it has a majority."
The act, which passed last June on the strength of opposition support, requires the government to meet the targets it committed to under the international Kyoto Protocol, submit a plan showing how it would do so and prove that steps have been taken by publishing reports.
Lawyers for the environmental group have said the government has missed three crucial deadlines for reporting progress since the act came into effect last summer and that the government shows no sign of following the law.
'Kyoto has very realistic targets that are attainable, just not without affecting business which we know the conservatives are very concerned about.'
— museshadow
Department of Justice lawyers, however, said the act is one of a number of several "unusual" statutes that Parliament did not expect the courts to enforce.
"It is up for Parliament to decide … whether or not the government should be allowed to explain it is simply too late for Kyoto to be complied with and would cause too much economic devastation," lawyer Peter Southey told the judge.
The Conservatives maintain that the Kyoto targets are unattainable after years of inaction by previous Liberal governments and would hurt the economy. Southey reiterated that argument Wednesday, saying Environment Minister John Baird has determined the requirements of the act are impossible to meet.
In an interview with CBC, Baird said the government has followed reporting requirements under the act, but achieving the Kyoto Protocol targets would require a gas tax hike.
"We'll follow the letter of the law, and we'll make our case in court. But simply put … this bill, if taken to its logical conclusion, would require us to put a 50-cent-a-litre tax on gasoline at the pumps," Baird said. "And that's just not something I'm prepared to do."
He said the Tories are "moving aggressively" on a series of environmental plans.
Wednesday's hearing is believed to be the first time a country has been challenged in court for failing to meet commitments under the international accord.
Under the protocol, signed by Canada under a previous Liberal government in 1998 and ratified in 2002, the country agreed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by six per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.
Last April, the federal government laid out its plan to reach the Kyoto targets by 2020 or 2025, years after the date set out by the international accord.
The Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act was introduced as a private member's bill by Liberal backbencher Pablo Rodriguez.
The court hearing is expected to last two days. It's unknown when the judge will rule on the matter.
With files from the Canadian Press
