Baird says Kyoto would lead to economic collapse

Updated Thu. Apr. 19 2007 10:03 AM ET CTV.CA

Environment Minister John Baird attacked the Kyoto accord on Thursday as a costly measure that would lead to economic collapse. "I think that we must strike a balance in order to act responsibly, we must take bold measures for the environment and we must let our economy go forward so Canadians can keep their jobs and build a promising future," Baird told a Senate Committee in French on Thursday. The Senate committee is considering a bill put forward by Liberal MP Pablo Rodriquez that would force the government to comply with the Kyoto targets.
Baird told the committee that analysis from economists shows implementing the Kyoto Protocol would mean:

• Gasoline will cost more than $1.60 a litre over the 2008-to-2012 period
• 275,000 Canadians working today will lose their jobs by 2009
• Job loss will cause unemployment rates to rise 25 per cent by 2009
• The decline of economic activity in the range of $51 billion

"Please, however, don't take my criticism of Bill C-288 as a condemnation of Kyoto. Our government remains committed to the principles and objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol," Baird said. "We accept our international obligations and will make our best effort." Toronto economist Don Drummond has said in a letter to reporters that it would be impossible to meet the Kyoto emissions-cutting target without a massive carbon tax of approximately $195 a tonne. However, a study released in late February by the group Friends of the Earth and Corporate Knights magazine put the cost of Kyoto compliance at $100 billion over four years, which they said would be about $20 per week for a family of four. Kyoto calls for Canada to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. As of 2003, those emissions had increased by 27 per cent above 1990 levels. If Canada doesn't meet its treaty obligations, it faces a 30 per cent penalty under the next phase of the Kyoto accord.

In addition, the opposition parties have forced the government to rewrite its Clean Air Act, which didn't mention the word Kyoto. Baird has said the government will adopt intensity targets, which require cuts in emissions per unit of production, but allow overall emissions to go up if production rises. Environmentalists have blasted that approach, saying GHG emissions from sectors like Alberta's oil sands could rise dramatically. Dennis Dawson, a Liberal MP from Quebec and a member of the committee, suggested Baird was fear mongering. "The sky is falling, we've heard that before. I was here in a previous life when the catalytic converters would kill the auto industry," Dawson told Baird during the hearing. "After that it was acid rain -- if we controlled acid rain we would kill the forest industry. We've seen the movie "An Inconvenient Truth," but I guess this is a convenient lie. Every time we talk about changes that would normally protect the environment we have people coming in and telling us it will destroy the economy."