Canada has officially withdrawn from the controversial Kyoto Protocol Treaty after it was changed to enact harsher restrictions on businesses. Both Russia and Japan have expressed intentions to also withdraw.
The treaty is often touted by supporters as a last ditch effort to save humanity and planet Earth from man-made global warming. Opponents of the treaty say it’s designed to give centralized governmental control over private industry and businesses at a national and global level.
Many opponents are quick to point out that the treaty was created primarily under the guise of dealing with man-made global warming, even though many in the world’s scientific community now realize the earth is actually cooling or otherwise experiences natural changes in global temperatures.
Other opponents have expressed concerns that many of the treaty’s creators and advocates have lifelong bodies of work where placing business and markets under governmental control has been a primary focus.
Article 27 of the treaty allows any country that signed to withdraw after three years of the treaty coming into force. Though the treaty was ratified in 2005, it wasn’t actually considered to be in force until early in 2008. Thus, Canada has honored its commitments and its withdrawal is legal.
The Guardian quotes Canada’s environment minister, Peter Kent:
Kent also claimed that Canada would have to pay billions to meet its Kyoto protocol target. Canada was meant to cut emissions by 6% by 2012 on 1990 levels, but instead they have risen by around a third. “To meet the targets under Kyoto for 2012 would be the equivalent of… the transfer of $14bn (£8.7bn) from Canadian taxpayers to other countries – the equivalent of $1,600 from every Canadian family – with no impact on emissions or the environment,” he said yesterday.
Oddly, China has expressed outrage through their government-controlled media over Canada’s withdrawal. In an article titled “Canada Withdrawal from Kyoto Protocol Irresponsible Action,” The Chinese government argues that the United States undermined the accord by not participating, and China should also be exempt from making efforts to meet global standards.
The communist Chinese government writes:
The move has cast a shadow over the global community, and has made some other developed signatories hesitate to cut their emissions. To add insult to injury, Canada became the first to call it quits, with the deadline of the first commitment period approaching.
Left-of-center advocates, including the Democratic Party and the communist Chinese government, routinely blamed then-president George W. Bush for any and all failures or stumbling points in the treaty’s ratification and implementation.
Reuters, going even further than the Chinese government, decided to slap the Canadian government with the ultimate left-of-center smear — they were doing the will of George W. Bush. Reuters asserted that this week’s actions by the Canadian government were the fault of Bush, a president who has not occupied the White House for nearly five years.
Reuters, in an article titled “Analysis: Canada’s Kyoto Began When Bush Bolted,” claims:
Canada’s widely criticized withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol ends a decade-long saga that began in earnest when former President George W. Bush walked away from the global climate change treaty in 2001.
Unfortunately for Reuters’ analysis, the plan Canada will follow instead of the Kyoto Protocol is almost identical to Barack Obama’s plan for the US. Reuters contradicts its own analysis but buries this fact in their article:
The Canadian government’s current plan, whichwould cut emissions by 17 percent of 2005 levels by 2020, is almostidentical to the strategy of President Barack Obama.
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