Conservative government would scrap Kyoto: Harper

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper reaffirmed a past pledge Wednesday that his government would scrap the Kyoto protocol on climate change and invest the money into other initiatives.

By supporting the accord, the Liberals are throwing billions of dollars at another boondoggle, said Harper.

"After seven years we have a federal government that still can't tell us how it will implement this accord. I don't believe it can implement it. I don't believe it can achieve the targets. I think we need a more balanced approach to cleaning up our atmosphere, "said Harper.

Harper said the "science is still evolving" and that there may be better ways to clean the air besides cutting greenhouse gas.

He added that the accord won't be implemented because many other countries have refused to endorse it.

"Kyoto is never going to be passed and I think we'd be better to spend our time on realistic pollution control measures," Harper said in Barrie Ont.

Dr. Ken Green, an environmental scientist with the Fraser Institute sides with Harper saying more research needs to be done on global warming.

Harper wants Canada to focus on smog-causing industrial pollutants promising his government would pass a new clean air bill by 2010 that would include mandatory limits on emission, but provided few details on how that would be achieved.

"Now is the time for federal leadership to ensure that targets for smog-causing pollutants are reached," Harper said.

Elizabeth May, an environmentalist with the Sierra Club of Canada calls Harper's position on Kyoto dangerous and far removed from the views of former Progressive Conservative leaders, Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney.

"The problem is, if you're ignoring the single biggest threat to the planet, not just the Kyoto protocol, saying the science behind it is not persuasive, then in global terms you've placed yourself with George Bush," said May. "You're not concerned about the loss of species through climate change, the loss of coastal lands through sea level rise."

Environmentalists would like to make Kyoto an election issue, but so far that hasn't materialized. According to a CBC poll conducted prior to the election call, only two percent of those asked said the environment was the most important issue facing Canadians.

The other four major Canadian parties support the accord to fight global warming, with the Liberal and New Democratic parties pledging to invest billions of dollars to develop alternative energy options, such as wind power.

Former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien signed the Kyoto protocol in 1997, which committed Canada to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but since that date emissions have risen sharply that they're now 20 percent above the target.

The Kyoto accord sets targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5.2 per cent before 2012. Canada ratified the accord in 2002, joining more than 100 countries.

But signatory nations must account for 55 per cent or more of global emissions to make the agreement binding.

Countries accounting for about 40 per cent of emissions have signed on, including the European Union.

The United States has rejected the accord and Russia has not yet signed.