In the latest example of what appears to be the Canadian government’s ducking of its climate obligations, ECO has learned Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has skipped a Canada-EU Summit in Finland later this month with climate change on the agenda. He cited his obligation to be in the House of Commons as an excuse – a lame one given opposition parties offered to remove one of their members should any vote come up during his absence. So was Harper ducking? As a not-so-wise man once said: “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.”

Environmental groups are now concerned Environment Minister Rona Ambrose might duck out of answering the submission made last week by Canadian NGOs in which they informed her of her “duty to act” to regulate greenhouse gas reductions under Section 166 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The Act requires the Minister to prevent, control or correct air pollution emitted by Canada which violates an international treaty binding on Canada. The NGOs gave the Minister 30 days to produce a compliance plan – allowing her to attend the Nairobi meeting and consult with her international colleagues.

ECO wonders what the real reason is for all those ducked meetings, abandoned commitments and general ducking of the government’s climate protection responsibilities. Could it be that the Conservative government really does not care about climate change? Could it be that the Environment Minister’s failure to get a briefing from her own department’s scientists means she is not interested in the scientific facts about climate change? We eagerly await Minister Ambrose’s clarification when she arrives in Nairobi next week.