No Kyoto progress under Tories, Telegdi warns

No Kyoto progress under Tories, Telegdi warns
Friday January 20, 2006
BOB BURTT
RECORD STAFF

University of Waterloo student Darcy Higgins (left) led a protest yesterday outside an all-candidates meeting at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex to remind participants about environmental concerns.
WATERLOO -- Outside of the Waterloo Recreation Complex, protesters brandished signs that urged politicians of all stripes to make a commitment to Kyoto as the first step towards stemming the tide of greenhouse gas emissions.
Darcy Higgins, a University of Waterloo student and an organizer of the small but polite protest, described climate change as one of the most important issues facing young people.
And as a young person concerned about the future, Higgins said he is frightened by the prospect of a Conservative government because the Conservatives are opposed to Kyoto.
But if the protesters hoped to send a message to Ajmer Mandur, the Conservative candidate in Kitchener-Waterloo riding, they missed their target.
Not only did Mandur manage to evade protesters, he opted out of the candidates' debate on climate change and environmental issues as well.
Moderator Ian Rowlands said all five candidates had accepted invitations and no one from Mandur's campaign said he wouldn't be there.
Ashley Page, one of the students behind the protest, said they organized the demonstration because they wanted to raise awareness about how important the Kyoto protocol is.
Page said she thought it was important for people to know where candidates stand on Kyoto and its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Kyoto provides the only path forward to reduce emissions, she said.
"It just has to happen."
Page said it is future generations who are most at risk if action isn't taken now to reduce emissions.
Left unchecked, climate change will lead to an increase in extreme weather events, storms, floods, hurricanes; melting of the Polar ice cap, loss of species diversity and an increase in the already high number of smog days experienced in southern Ontario.
Inside the meeting room, Liberal incumbent Andy Telegdi told a standing- room-only crowd that if Canada elects a Conservative government Monday, there will be no Kyoto.
"Make no mistake about that."
Telegdi said that Liberal governments since 1993 spent $5.4 billion on research, encouraging green businesses and climate-change programs, but added that's all at risk now.
NDP candidate Edwin Laryea challenged the Liberal record and pointed out that even as the government boasted about its commitment to Kyoto, greenhouse gas emissions continued to increase in Canada even faster than in the United States, which isn't a party to the agreement.
The Green party's Pauline Richards agreed the Liberal government "failed miserably on promises to live up to climate-change commitments."
Richards said Kyoto is just the beginning of what needs to be done to combat climate change.
Marxist-Leninist candidate Julian Ichim said our system of government doesn't care about people or the environment. That's not about to change, Ichim said, because government isn't accountable.
Candidates generally agreed on the need for light-rail transit, incentives for people to use public transit and to encourage energy conservation.
http://www.therecord.com/fed_election2006/fed_election2006_0601218478.html

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