Kyoto

[farmers_son]

Bush was quoted at the G8 Summit as saying "The Kyoto treaty would have wrecked our economy, if I can be blunt."

Will it wreck the Canadian economy too?

[daretodiffer]

Don't see how a plan to cut pollution will "wreck" the economy as much as burning up the finite resources in the fastest way possible will lead to an eventual wreck in the economy we now revel in.

[FarmRanger]

“Wreck” is a strong word. Compared to what our economy could be, there are some that might say it’s already wrecked. Having said that, I suspect that it will be a drag on the economy, in that it will be a transfer of wealth to other countries who either didn’t sign on, or are exempt from Kyoto emissions quotas.

The fact that we will make consuming fuel here more expensive, will not mean any less will be burned. It will just be burned elsewhere, (ironically, maybe even using our penalty money), at a cheaper price than if we had consumed it here. Why cheaper? Demand from Canada will go down all right, which should make the world price slightly less. A lower price means other big oil buyers get a better deal. Making cheaper oil for competing economies using our money doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to me. Signing onto Kyoto was a great public relations exercise, but won’t accomplish lower worldwide emissions. It will accomplish the lightening our wallets in Canada, and most especially Alberta.

Could we not have run the one tonne challenge PR exercise without the impossible to meet Kyoto standards, and the penalties that will inevitably follow?
Actually, impossible is too strong of a word, keep putting drags on the economy, and demand for oil will eventually go down enough to meet Kyoto targets. We won’t need to heat as many homes if enough of us are living under the exhaust vents at the mall.

Oh, sure, we’ll survive Kyoto, while still being considered a rich country. But here is another example of our money being spent for us against our will, and again quite stupidly in this case, I must add.

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant, but I do feel quite strongly on this issue!

[cowman]

Kyoto is not about saving the environment but about a massive money transfer from the wealthy western nations to the poorer nations?
How dumb is it to put restrictions on our industries? All it does is tell them they need to migrate to China or India! This is smart?
The Liberals are all for it as they see it as a way to rip off some more Alberta petro dollars!
In Canada we are high energy users. It is all well and good to say we need to clean up our act, but the fact is we live in an Artic country and we need to stay warm and operate where it takes a lot of energy?
The US actually has a better plan in place for energy reduction than the idiotic Kyota plan!

[cowman]

By the way...I have found quite often environmental groups are quite the little social reformers? A popular talk show host used to call them "Watermellon environmentalists"?...Green on the outside, but when you peel off the outer layer you find pure red!

[farmers_son]

Cowman is right, Kyoto is about a transfer of wealth from rich to poor. Canada is a northern country and needs to use energy for heat etc. that other countries may not.

[SW1-32-5-4]

Yous guys are correct but what kind of action are you prepared to be involved in?

[grassfarmer]

Cowman I take it you are with G.W?
When the reporter asked him for his opinion on the Kyoto accord - reply "is that the 2 door or the 4 door?"

[cowman]

grassfarmer: Yea,I have to go with George on this one. How much sense does it make to allow the heavy polluters to just go about business as usual while buying carbon credits to offset their problems? Then they dream up schemes to pay people for carbon sinks that are already there? Net result is nothing changes!
In the meantime our industries will now be strapped with an additional expense that their competitors in the undeveloped world don't have? If you were a profit driven manufacturer where would you locate?
Yea, I would say George hit it right on the head. Unfortunately our own bright lights are not in touch with reality?

[FarmRanger]

When Canada first signed onto Kyoto, I thought that even Jean Chretian can’t be that stupid. Then I thought, no, like GST, he’ll just weasel out of it, so Kyoto won’t end up hurting us. Now it looks more and more like we are going to end up getting burdened with Kyoto in the end anyway. It appears that Canada will have a Jean Chretian hangover for many years to come.