The best thing Canada can do for the global environment is get out of the Kyoto Protocol. That Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has decided to do just that shows that she is more concerned with substance and effective policy than appearances and empty pledges.  Says Paul Stanway of The Edmonton Sun:

Kyoto's been a huge failure, a complete bust. The accord is a political fiction built for left-wing governments who want to appear green but have actually accomplished little or nothing in the way of greenhouse gas reduction.

Canada is a classic example. Signing on to Kyoto was supposed to be part of former PM Jean Chretien's grand legacy. Because we all know that the Grits are the party committed to saving the planet, with bold promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by huge amounts — except those emissions actually increased by 35% during the Chretien/Martin years.

Liberal environment critic Scott Brison bashes Ms Ambrose for refusing to support an extension of Kyoto beyond its current terminus of 2012.  Mr Stanway points out that, before he jumped from the Conservatives to the Liberals, Mr Brison considered Kyoto worthless.

All the overheated pro-Kyoto rhetoric coming from the opposition benches obscures the fact that the US, which has not joined Kyoto, has had far greater success than Canada in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Indeed, Canada’s rejection of Kyoto gives hope that our country is about to forego the posturing of the past and tackle environmental issues in a serious fashion.  Rondi Adamson in The Toronto Star:

[Rona Ambrose’s] comments gave me faith that she and her party might take the matter of the environment seriously enough to do something about it.

Other than, that is, "hang in there with the rest of the world," as [David] Suzuki revealingly put it. As though it were about being a good team player (in an already lost match), rather than tackling the problem.

Let’s hope that Canada will move to adopt environmental policies similar to those that have proven so successful in the US.

Paul Stanway link via The Evangelical Ecologist and Acton Institute PowerBlog.
Rondi Adamson link via Western Standard Shotgun blog and wonkitties.

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