"Kyoto is suicide for Canada"

Great article in today's Financial Post... "Kyoto is economic suicide as is".

The article trashes the Liberal Party, accusing them of using the treaty simply as a political ploy against the Conservatives... all the while, being dishonest, and not acknowledging that they KNOW the targets are unattainable. (which of course, they won't admit, unless they win the next election... THEN they'll come out and admit it, then say "We can't do it because the Tories wasted one year"... ignoring the previous years of Liberal inaction, of course)

At the same time, the article also suggests some reasonable courses of action on what we can do in an effort to reach our Kyoto goals... all of which I agree with.

While Kyoto has been a dead duck everywhere else in the world, except in the Liberal or NDP caucuses, the Tories are going to tackle the issue sensibly.

I believe that Canada can clean up its act, and here are some ways this can be accomplished dramatically without ruining the economy:

1. All coal-fired plants generating power in Canada should be retrofitted with emissions-free technology or replaced with nuclear plants. Nuclear should also replace natural gas power plants so that gas can be preserved for home-heating markets across the continent as well as petrochemical production.

2. Nuclear plants should be built in Alberta's oilsands to replace the use of natural gas to extract the oil.

3. The Mackenzie Valley pipeline must be built to bring cleaner natural gas down to North America's markets in order to cut back operations involving coal or oil.

4. Canadians should be given a grant to replace a gas guzzler for a hybrid vehicle.

5. Government buildings and vehicles should all be as green as can be.

6. Cities should dramatically increase zoning densities along existing subway or LRT lines in order to monetize the benefits of building public transportation and get people out of cars. There should be greenbelts imposed around cities to stop suburban sprawl.

7. Legislation should encourage energy users to clean up and use existing technologies. Unless mandated, companies must responsibly deploy capital in other, faster payback ways.

8. Ottawa must convince, then help, the maximization of Canada's huge hydro-electric potential. This is vastly underexploited in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia. There's no excuse for this.

9. Ottawa must inform the world that unless all countries sign a revised Kyoto, the treaty is pointless, then push for a new one.

This is what Canada can do. Kyoto, as negotiated, is ruinous for Canada.