It’s Official: Canada Breaks International Law, Withdraws From Kyoto Protocol – Or Not?

*Update – it turns out the Globe and Mail jumped the gun a bit in its reporting – if you go to the article now, it’s retitled “China’s flexibility fails to soften Tory stand against Kyoto climate pact” (although you can still see the original title in the URL address), and the quote below is gone. It was replaced with:

In a teleconference from Durban, Mr. Kent reiterated the Conservative government’s refusal to make a second commitment to Kyoto emission targets once the current period expires in 2012.

So, in other words, Canada hasn’t broken international law – yet.  Stay posted! (And thanks, Cheryl for the heads up).*

From the Globe and Mail:

Environment Minister Peter Kent says Canada is finished with the Kyoto Protocol.

Speaking in a teleconference from an international climate-change summit in South Africa, Mr. Kent said Monday Canada will not make a second commitment to Kyoto, which would run from 2013 to 2017.

The article erroneously claims that China, India, and the U.S. aren’t part of Kyoto, when in fact they are all signatories to Kyoto, but the U.S. (as opposed to Canada) never ratified it.  The truth is, Canada is the only signatory that signed the international treaty and has now backed out because it’s inconvenient. Crappy move, more international shame for our once-proud nation. I’ll let the younger generation have the last word:

More links:

Tories Serve Notice That Canada Won’t Recommit To Kyoto Deal