Shut 'er Down, International Climate Change Talks Are Dead

Even David Suzuki says so.

“Following the undeniable frustrations of [climate change summits in] Copenhagen and Cancun,” says a Toronto Star editorial, “there is an emerging sense that they should be seen as stepping stones toward future progress by other means.” While the “stepping stone” argument can be easily skewered, the Star is actually advocating a profound shift in climate change talks. Namely the abandonment of huge climate conferences involving 193 countries and a move towards “domestic, bilateral and, yes, multilateral arrangements,” like the one negotiated between Western provinces and U.S. states. So yes, the Toronto Star, bastion of all that is left-wing and starry-eyed, has all but declared international climate talks dead.

That editorial mirrors a Star column written by David Suzuki, who attempts to explain his foundation's reluctance to take part at Cancun. “I’ve just seen the futility of trying to get our current government to act in any meaningful way at the UN talks,” he writes, “… we can accomplish more by working with municipal and provincial governments, and with thousands of concerned citizens, than trying to get the federal government to act on global warming.”

The National Post’s Kelly McParland writes that Suzuki’s message will never gain traction until he realizes one basic fact: Canadians want Ottawa to act on climate change, “[a]s long as it doesn’t cost them anything.” This may be true, but McParland doesn’t seem overly concerned that this is the prevailing attitude in Canada. To us at the Mark Newsroom, it sounds a lot like the dubious logic that leads people to demand lower taxes, but also less deficit and more social services. Pick one.

Sun Media congratulates Environment Minister John Baird on his “rightful insistence [at Cancun] that if a billion Chinese didn't give a damn about climate change then what's the point?” It’s not fair for Canada to tackle emissions while China doesn’t, says the Sun, so until Beijing steps it up Ottawa shouldn’t have to. Yes that’s right folks, the Sun wants Canada to emulate China's policies. How long before Jack Layton’s receiving a Nobel Prize from inside an Alberta prison?