Further to Adam Daifallah's post I am going through the CTV archives to see if any previous Environment Minister was given similar treatment to what Minister Ambrose was given yesterday. I doing this expecting the answer to be yes because I believe that Ministers should be challenged to go beyond talking points and be pressed to give straight answers, in other words I think that is the medias job. Therefore I will not charge bias unless I find a softball interview with a previous Environment Minister.
Anyways, I came across this article in the process which adds fuel to the fire I have been building here the last couple of days.
...Environment Minister Stephane Dion said China won't agree to a national target for cutting greenhouse emissions for years -- not even in the post-2012 phase of the Kyoto climate pact. China is the world's second biggest greenhouse emitter after the United States. Its views could create major difficulties when Kyoto signatories meet in Montreal to discuss the next step in the Kyoto process. "It's very unlikely that for the coming future they (Chinese officials) would accept a national target, they are very clear about that," said Dion in an interview from Australia, following talks with Chinese officials earlier this week....China argues that "climate change has been caused by developed countries and not by them so they have this view and it's very entrenched," said Dion.
Despite efforts to develop alternative energy sources, China will depend on high-polluting coal for the forseeable future, he said.
"If you go to Beijing today you can't see ahead, the air is so polluted. The children of Beijing have never seen a starry sky. The sky is never blue. It's a science fiction nightmare but it's real."
If I find any interesting clips I will post them below.
Comments (3)
that MUST be wrong, after all Jack Laydown himself has confirmed that China, and India as well, are very enthusiastic about Kyoto II - thus proving that everyone else should sign up as well.
And when he called Rona a liar, not a single “journalist” took him to task for his whopper about China.
Posted by Fred | May 22, 2006 1:37 PM
Posted on May 22, 2006 13:37
There is that…I laughed at that one we he said it and he was not challenged on it.
But I am not sure if it is bias as much as it is ignorance.
Posted by Greg Staples | May 22, 2006 1:48 PM
Posted on May 22, 2006 13:48
Once again, although China is now a growing threat wrt to emissions, it’s per capita emissions are, and have been, quite low compared to ours.
Given that the West is largely responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, and has both the fiscal and intellectual resources, it is reasonable that we were supposed to step up to the plate first.
Of course, as the US refused to cut emissions, it’s no wonder that China and India are less willing to do what needs doing.
India recently expressed concerns about the post-2012 period too: http://suddensage.com/blog/?p=1118
Keep in mind that Ambrose is bucking the system in a bad way, so she will get called on it. If she were to keep her mouth shut and behave like the Liberals — that is, endorsing Kyoto while not trying to meet it — she’d do better in the press. It’s not fair, but there it is.
And now with Canada officially wavering on kyoto, India and China will have even less reason to do anything.
The failure of Kyoto post-2012 is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I remind people that efficiency is the angle we should be taking here. That alone will cut emissions immensely, and will make us more competitive.
Posted by Mark Francis | May 22, 2006 1:58 PM
Posted on May 22, 2006 13:58