Harper, Tory MPS query Kent on climate change
Inquiries passed on from doubting constituents
OTTAWA – While scientists and environmentalists criticize him for doing little to fight climate change, Environment Minister Peter Kent also has been questioned by his Conservative party colleagues, including the prime minister, about whether the scientific evidence is real and requires a government response.
A series of letters signed by Kent have revealed he has faced many questions from colleagues in recent months about whether Canada needs to take action to reduce consumption of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline that produce heat-trapping pollution and other toxic emissions in the atmosphere.
But in each of the letters, released through access to information legislation, Kent defended scientific evidence, while dismissing myths such as a suggestion from one Conservative that volcanoes were a major contributor to global warming.
“Even major volcanic eruptions emit only a very small fraction of carbon dioxide compared to annual human emissions,” Kent wrote in a Sept. 6, 2011 letter to one colleague that noted volcanic ash can cause short-term cooling in the atmosphere, lasting up to three years.
“Volcanoes, in short, are not a major contributor to global warming.
Although Environment Canada’s access to information office removed the name of this “colleague” who wrote to Kent about volcanoes after receiving an article from a constituent, the letters revealed the names of other MPs who had asked the environment minister to respond to similar questions from constituents casting doubts about scientific research on climate change.
They included Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ontario MPs Barry Devolin and Terence Young and B.C. MP David Wilks — who recently sparked controversy for suggesting he didn’t fully support the government’s budget legislation.
Kent also used his letters to defend the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has been targeted by climate change contrarians for more than a decade.
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report, published in 2007, concluded that the climate system is clearly warming, as shown by increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level,” Kent wrote in a July 14 letter sent in response to questions raised by someone who had contacted Wilks.
“The report also concluded that it is very likely that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are responsible for most of the observed warming since the mid-twentieth century, and that a human influence is now evident in many other aspects of the Earth’s climate.”
“I’m glad to … talk about what we know about observed science.” PETER KENT, ENVIRONMENT MINI STER
When asked about the letters last week, Kent said that having debates and being challenged demonstrates the “vitality of any government.”
He also said the caucus represents a broad range of opinions in the Canadian public about the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity on the climate.
“But I think that those are fair discussions,” Kent said.
“I’m glad to sit down with anybody and talk about what we know about observed science about historic data measurement, analysis and the fact that there are still many unknowns.”
Harper has cast doubts, in the past, on the ability of climate scientists to accurately predict trends, but has publicly avoided making controversial statements about the issue in recent years.
“I have said many times that climate change is a great problem for the world,” Harper said last December in response to questions from Liberal leader Bob Rae about plans to withdraw from the international Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Harper also has slammed the Kyoto agreement, the world’s only legallybinding treaty on global warming, for having imposed “stupid targets” for Canada.
The prime minister recently appointed senators such as Bert Brown and former Olympic alpine skiing champion Nancy Greene Raine who have used their new platform in the Senate to question an overwhelming body of scientific research and evidence about human-induced climate change.
The offices of Harper, Devolin, Young and Wilks did not respond to requests from Postmedia News seeking comment.
But Kent said he and his government are convinced about the reality of scientific evidence and are committed to taking a realistic and responsible approach to tackling the challenges of air pollution and climate change with its own goal of reducing Canada’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
“The prime minister’s signature on the Copenhagen Accord (on climate change) reflects that reality,” Kent said.
“We are committed to do our part. Our small part, but our part to address climate change and reduce GHGs and short-lived climate forces.”
Green party leader Elizabeth May said she has personally tried to reach out to Conservatives in Parliament to debunk climate myths that she believes are being spread through propaganda funded by industry.
“Of course there’s a concerted global multibillion-dollar effort to lie about climate science,” May said.
“The biggest worry I have is (regarding) the member of his caucus who doesn’t understand climate science who is currently the prime minister.
“That’s the biggest worry I have, because I cannot find any evidence that the prime minister of Canada has ever had a briefing on climate science from any of the prominent climate scientists in Canada, in or outside of government.”