Minister optimistic as climate talks go long

PARIS — The Canadian delegation at the climatechange conference in Paris remained optimistic on Friday that a deal could be reached with the deadline extended to Saturday.

Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said in a statement she was encouraged as talks continued after marathon negotiations that continued overnight and well into Friday.

McKenna said there was “good co-operation” on issues considered a priority for Canada.

She expressed satisfaction that the latest draft contains a commitment to limit temperature rise to “well below” 2 C, when compared with pre-industrial levels, as well as a push to “pursuing efforts to limit (the) increase to 1.5 degrees.”

She voiced Canada’s support for the 1.5 degrees target earlier this week, recognizing the urgency of the threat to small island states.

However, other Canadian priorities, such as carbon pricing, were weakened in the latest draft agreement, submitted late Thursday.

Canada has advocated for carbon pricing as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and while the current draft recognizes this, it limits the scope to non-state actors instead of states.

Both McKenna and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard have said the absence of carbon pricing wouldn’t change much in reality.

But Couillard, in Paris earlier this week, said he insisted on its inclusion in the agreement because “we always demand better.”

Several Canadian provinces have already announced or implemented carbon pricing mechanisms in order to meet the reduction targets. Manitoba has signed an agreement with Ontario and Quebec to link their cap-and-trade systems while Alberta and British Columbia have introduced a carbon tax.

The Canadian government also said the indigenous rights provisions in the draft are not sufficient.

As it stands, a paragraph in the preamble states parties must take into consideration the “rights of indigenous peoples” in the development of their climate change policies and actions.