During his visit to Canada on Thursday, President Obama reportedly discussed the need to develop carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology that would–in theory–allow the U.S. and Canada to make use of oil and coal reserves in a more environmentally responsible manner.
It’s not surprising that in his first official Canadian visit, Obama would choose to stress cooperation, but it is a disappointment to many environmentalists, who would have liked the president to take a tougher stance against Canada’s growing tar sands development–an environmentally destructive and emissions-intensive process of oil production.
Furthermore, there are many who believe the development of CCS technology is a waste of time and money, potentially dangerous and/or an excuse to continue burning fossil fuels.
According to Reuters, Obama and Harper announced no steps toward introducing a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions, although Canada has said it would support a North American-wide system.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he would be willin to strengthen environmental and labor provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Obama supports. But Harper said he does not want a complete renegotiation of the agreement.
Perhaps the most promising statement coming out of the meeting was Obama’s remark about the importance of the two countries demonstrating international leadership on climate change.
Canada, which effectively abandoned its emissions reduction goals under the Kyoto Protocol, has been accused over the last year of obstructing international negotiations for a new treaty. And of course, the U.S., which refused to participate in Kyoto under President Bush’s leadership, has done little to advance negotiations for a new treaty either.
"As two relatively wealthy countries it is important for us to show leadership," Obama said, adding that it was "absolutely critical" to bring big emitters India and China into international agreements as well.
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President Obama is probably treading lightly because Canada is talking about removing their troops from Afgahnistan – I’m sure President Obama would rather have the Canadian troops stay on in some kind of role. Prime Minister Harper has a reputation as being the “Bush of the North” so don’t expect a huge “surge” in environmental leadership from the North. However Canadians are a pretty good people (after all, they did invent pancakes!) and I’m sure they’ll come around to their senses in time. As for the Tar Sands, it’s an accident waiting to happen – we should expect more than that from our northern neighors!
The Bush of the south is gone. Thanks to the resurgence of intelligent, decent Americans who were cheated out of their opportunity for progress four years ago. It is time for the same to happen in Canada.