When abroad, I have often bragged about Canada's legal
system, how competent and respected are our courts and how no one
is above the law. But this boast has taken a blow in the area of
climate change and the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol is a binding international agreement reached
in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, in which developed countries agreed to
set limits on the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate
change. Canada was one of the first signatories and ratified the
Protocol in 2002. In 2005, the Liberal government proposed an
implementation plan, but the bill had not passed when the
Conservatives won a minority government in the 2006 federal
election.
Harper's Conservatives oppose Canada's Kyoto commitment,
but Parliament adopted the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act,
2007 despite Conservative objections. The KPIA requires Canada
to develop a plan to comply with the Protocol and to publish annual
progress reports. What was the response of our national
