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Quebec To Go It Alone On Kyoto, Charest Says


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Quebec to go it alone on Kyoto, Charest says

Canadian Press

LAVAL, Que. — Quebec Premier Jean Charest says he's ready to act alone to respect the Kyoto accord if the federal government reneges on its commitments.

"The Quebec government is resolutely committed to Kyoto and we intend to soon announce our policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Mr. Charest said Tuesday.

Mr. Charest said the policy favours conservation and renewable forms of energy such as hydro and wind power.

"With just the part which deals with saving energy, we'll succeed in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 9.3 megatons in Quebec," he told reporters in Laval, north of Montreal.

"That's the equivalent of 2,350,000 cars."

The premier also said Quebec wants to work closely with its neighbours and a big meeting is planned in Quebec City in two weeks.

"At my invitation, environment ministers from Eastern Canada and the northeastern (U.S.) states will meet to discuss energy and the effects of greenhouse gas emissions."

Mr. Charest rejected a suggestion by Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair that Quebec adopt a pollution law.

The premier said it's not a law that will reduce greenhouse gases.

"It's actions that we take at the level of public transit, our personal energy consumption, renewable energy, it's there that we want to act," Mr. Charest added.

Quebec has been a vocal supporter of the Kyoto accord but federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has said the government can't meet the targets the Liberals negotiated — a six per cent cut in greenhouse emissions from 1990 levels by 2012.

A government document recently leaked to the media suggested Canada could pull out of the UN climate-change process unless the United States and other major polluters agree to come onboard.

The premier said Quebec will continue to take a regional approach, "regardless of what the federal government does."

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This is another thing that shows Quebec is a forward thinking province. Thinking ahead with child care was a brilliant stroke for families and being able to take the initiative on pollution control is a great idea. (Are you listening Ontario?)

This article gives me hope that our Prime Minister may just table something that is solid for the environment and show he is different from any other federal party.

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Good for Charest. He seems to be doing a good job for Quebec even though the public seems to hate him.

I look forward to more Wind and Hydro projects.

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It's easy to be righteous when you're not the one sitting on one of the world largest oil reserve

Québec would behave just like Alberta if the roles were reversed.

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It's easy to be righteous when you're not the one sitting on one of the world largest oil reserve

Québec would behave just like Alberta if the roles were reversed.

Oil has its drawbacks, just like Hydro. Quebec has had to be innovative in developing strategies to get power from water with the least envoronmental impact. Alberta, on the other hand, polutes a lot because of the method they are using to extract the oil. I doubt very much that Oil producing coutries are getting nailed for the polution caused by other nations burning the fuel. You can burn fuel more efficiently, and you can reduce your emitions. It just takes the will of the governement.

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It's easy to be righteous when you're not the one sitting on one of the world largest oil reserve

Québec would behave just like Alberta if the roles were reversed.

I think righteous is a little strong but understand as Ontario is already bad for emissions and if we were sitting on oil too, Yikes!

Alberta will try to do better as they have an industry that has intense value to our brothers and sisters in the USA. USA news loves to take on Canada's environmental record every once in a while. Although recent CNN shows have shown the great strip mining for oil without any thought to Alberta's environment. (I think the last one was "Funneling American's thirst for fuel") As the industry grows I have faith our fellow Canadians in Alberta will watch and question how the oil gets refined and what their government does to curb environment abuse.

Personally, I am glad that Alberta is thriving and has a great future ahead of them as it has not always been this way and is well deserved for the people there. It would be a great thing for Canada to have Alberta become a powerhouse province in Canada to help balance federation.

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It would be good to see more nature friendly energy projects set up but we'd better be prepared for the high up-front costs. They're going to be high!

:king: :hlogo: :king:

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