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Canada 's Reluctance Of Fight Climate Change

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Canada’s Reluctance to Fight Climate Change
Introduction
Despite its well-known Economic Action Plan and its continued emphasis on the need for more jobs and growth, it is still quite disturbing that the Canadian government gave a cold shoulder to environmental concerns in its 2014 budget. However, what has become clear in the last few years is that Canada is not committed to fighting climate change. In truth, it is not Canada that is uncommitted to the climate change cause. It is its Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, who is blocking all efforts to put Canada at the forefront of climate change efforts . And Canada should be leading climate change initiatives because it is one of the largest emitters in the world, and it is also a rich …show more content…

For example, Harper has consistently failed to meet Kyoto Protocol agreements which it signed with the United States and China and promised to fulfill. In addition, in the 2014 budget, the allocation for climate science reduced by a significant percentage. The problem, according to government sources and climate change researchers, is oil. Canada has huge oil reserves, which it intends to exploit to the maximum without caring what any climate change policy, deal or supporter says.
The Harper government’s energy policy focuses on using the country’s oil potential to drive its economic growth. To be fair, the policy is working and has been working for the last couple of years, especially after Harper assumed power. Canada’s growth in the last ten years has been remarkable, and most – if not all – of this growth rides on the back of oil sands exploitation and oil exploration activities. Harper’s stance is that provided there is oil, Canada will extract it from whatever source, process it and sell it. The revenue will drive Canada’s growth . There is no other way to it, and he will not pay attention to “detractors.” The policy has put Canada at loggerheads with the United States and China, but each time the Prime Minister responds by burying his head and those of his people deeper in the (oil) sand. The oil sands in Alberta have probably the largest economic potential out of any

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