VZCZCXRO0032
PP RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #0639/01 1001718
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101718Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5354
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAEPA/EPA WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000639 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EB, OES, AND WHA 
DOE FOR POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL 
EPA FOR OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR AND INTERNATIONAL 
AFFAIRS 
WHITE HOUSE FOR CEQ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ENRG CA
SUBJECT: CANADIAN REACTION TO LATEST IPCC REPORT 
 
REF: OTTAWA 0627 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  Environment minister Baird reacted to the 
latest IPCC report with a statement promising early 
announcement of mandatory targets for reducing emissions of 
GHG and air pollutants.  The Conservative government has been 
under intense pressure for its failure to place a policy 
priority on the environment when it took office 14 months 
ago, and it has been playing catch up ever since, especially 
since its draft Clean Air Act was introduced - and thoroughly 
panned by the opposition - last fall.  The targets Baird 
promised in his press release were foreshadowed in the Clean 
Air Act, and their announcement has been expected for several 
weeks.  Most observers still expect targets for GHGs to be 
intensity-based for an initial period.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Environment minister John Baird reacted to the April 
6 release in Brussels of the summary for policy makers of the 
latest IPCC report with a press release stressing how 
seriously the Conservative government took climate change and 
committing to an early announcement of "targets for mandatory 
reductions of greenhouse gases and air pollution" and an 
early introduction of "world-leading regulations that will 
limit the emissions that contribute to climate change and air 
pollution."  He reiterated the mantra of "real action" by the 
Harper Conservative government, noting new funding for 
environmental programs of C$4.5 billion in the budget passed 
by the House on March 26, and new targets for renewable fuel 
use in automobiles, among other initiatives. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Baird's statement promises to announce targets for 
mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases and air pollution 
within weeks.  In fact, these targets were promised in the 
Clean Air Act tabled in Parliament last October, and their 
announcement has been expected for weeks.  The original Clean 
Air Act called for intensity-based targets for greenhouse gas 
emissions up to 2025, after which they would switch to hard 
caps.  Targets for emissions of air pollutants - ozone, NOX, 
SOX, volatile organic compounds, mercury, and the like - were 
already proposed in the form of mandatory limits.  Since the 
Clean Air Act was introduced, the government has engaged 
provinces and territories and industry in a series of 
consultations to determine the intensity targets.  Senior 
Environment Canada leadership said the consultations had gone 
well, as would be expected, but the government has been quiet 
on the levels of the targets.  While the opposition has 
called unceasingly for strict hard caps on GHG emissions, 
most observers still expect the targets for greenhouse gas 
emissions will be intensity based, at least initially.  The 
question is how strict those intensity targets will be, 
whether there will be penalties for sectors and individual 
emitters not meeting their targets, and when the change over 
from intensity targets will come. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The response of Stephen Harper's Conservative 
government to climate change and the environment has been 
uneven, to say the least, and its failure to include the 
environment as one of its key priority issues in its 2006 
election campaign allowed opposition parties to color the 
Prime Minister, some would say unfairly, anything but green. 
The near complete absence of climate change messaging in the 
QThe near complete absence of climate change messaging in the 
introduction of the Clean Air Act last October, and the 
December election of Stephane Dion (the last Liberal 
environment minister) to Liberal Party and opposition 
leadership made the government have to run twice as fast just 
to keep up.  In the first three months of the year the 
government has done its best to stay on the offensive on the 
environment, naming a new environment minister (Baird, who 
will make his first official visit to Washington as 
environment minister later this week), announcing the C$1.5 
billion ecoTrust to fund climate change and energy efficiency 
programming in the provinces and territories, and embarking 
on several other initiatives to boost energy efficiency, most 
predominantly in the transportation sector.  In fact, some 
industry observers have even been concerned that the 
Conservatives would go too far in formulating the emissions 
targets in trying to prove themselves "greener than thou." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Still, at this point, the Harper government faces a 
bit of a "damned if you do; damned if you don't" problem. 
While the frenetic pace with which these initiatives have 
 
OTTAWA 00000639  002 OF 002 
 
 
been rolled out since the first of the year seems to have 
left much of the electorate with the feeling that Harper's 
conversion to environmental concern may be politically 
motivated, the electorate remains uncertain as to how 
individual Canadians should respond to climate change.  A 
recent nationwide poll found that Canadians ) by a large 
margin ) favored measures to incentivize environmentally 
conscious behavior (tax cuts for energy efficient homes and 
buildings and individual subsidies for public transit, for 
example) yet opposed, by similar margins, measures which 
taxed or fined them directly, especially regarding personal 
travel. 
 
¶6. (SBU) If Baird's reaction to the report was predictable, 
opposition reactions to the report and to his statement were 
even more so.  Liberal leader Dion, for example, took the 
opportunity to criticize the Conservatives for not taking 
Canada's reponsibilities seriously and "go(ing) it alone with 
intensity targets instead of the absolute targets used by the 
rest of the world."  Dion called on the government to support 
the re-drafted Clean Air Act (reftel), and concluded by 
warning that "history will judge Canada harshly if we 
continue on Mr. Harper's course of undermining international 
efforts instead of contributing to them."  NDP leader Jack 
Layton joined Dion in calling for passage of the re-drafted 
Clean Air Act, but implied the Liberals were also playing 
politics with the bill, all of which left Canada "standing 
still" instead of leading the global response to the 
"onslaught of climate change." 
 
¶7. (U) The text of Baird's April 6 statement follows: 
"Canada's New Government is serious about tackling climate 
change and protecting the air we breathe for Canadians today 
and for the future.  The urgency to act is underscored today 
with the release of this report.  That,s why in the coming 
weeks - for the first time in Canadian history - our 
Government will be announcing targets for mandatory 
reductions of greenhouse gases and air pollution. 
 
¶8. (U) "The IPCC has presented further scientific evidence on 
the challenges Canada and the world is facing and will 
continue to face with climate change.  But this Government 
hasn,t waited to act.  We announced $4.5 billion in new 
environmental funding in Budget 2007 and have already 
implemented a comprehensive environmental strategy that 
totals $9 billion and includes the ecoENERGY Initiatives, the 
ecoTransport Strategy, the ecoAUTO Program to encourage 
Canadians to buy fuel)efficient vehicles, and support for 
public transit.  We also have committed to a five per cent 
renewable fuel content for Canadian motor vehicles and 
invested $1.5 billion in new funding to help the provinces 
and territories address climate change and air pollution to 
improve the health of Canadians. Still, more needs to be 
done." 
¶9. (U) "Shortly, we will be introducing world-leading 
regulations that will limit the emissions that contribute to 
climate change and air pollution.  Canada's New Government 
recognizes that leadership on this issue means real action 
must begin at home. We also realize that for the global 
community to make real progress on climate change, 
governments, industries and citizens from around the world 
must work together, and we must do so now." 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
Qhttp://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS