21 November 2007Canoe NewsJennifer Ditchburn
There'll be no room for opposition MPs in the Canadian government's inn at next month's crucial climate-change talks in Bali, Indonesia.
Environment Minister John Baird's office confirmed Wednesday that representatives from the three opposition parties would not be welcome as part of Canada's official delegation at the United Nations conference.
That's a departure from a long-held government tradition of bringing critics along to major international conferences - opposition MPs participated in the last major UN environmental conference in Nairobi last November, for example. This coming meeting will set the stage for a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 and does not include the developing world.
Baird spokesman Garry Keller said in an e-mail that Baird "...is going to Indonesia to work for global action on climate change, and not fight partisan battles."
"Environmental groups and other third parties are planning on attending the conference, and opposition members are free to attend the conference if they wish, as there is nothing stopping them from attending," Keller said.
He added that the government would be taking a number of Canadians to help advise during the talks but did not specify who. The David Suzuki Foundation confirmed their organization's famous namesake would not be one of them.
It is also unclear whether representatives from the provinces will be included as part of the delegation.
The Liberals note that while Leader Stephane Dion was the environment minister, he brought Tory critic Bob Mills "to pretty much everything," and arranged for Mills to participate in some meetings with foreign ministers at which Dion wasn't present.
Liberal environment critic David McGuinty calls the move censorship.
"I thought that I had a responsibility as the Official Opposition critic for the environment, who ran to get elected to work in this field - I kind of thought I had a special responsibility to represent millions of Canadians who have a competing point of view."
Said NDP Environment critic Nathan Cullen: "It's so petty. It doesn't speak to a confident government. If they felt good about how they were dealing with climate change, then they wouldn't mind criticism."
"Excluding opposition members is essentially rejecting the majority's views," said Bloc Quebecois MP Bernard Bigras.
Being named a part of an official delegation confers a number of privileges, including access to limited accommodation, official briefings and much of the international talks themselves. Payment of transportation costs is not necessarily picked up by the federal government, but ticket bookings are often co-ordinated on behalf of delegation participants.
Environmental groups have also been told they would not be part of the Canadian delegation.
Still, the Sierra Club of Canada and the David Suzuki Foundation, among others, will be sending representatives as official observers through the United Nations.
"To me this is just another example of this government trying to control the message on climate change, and prevent other voices that actually represent a majority of Canadians from being voiced on the international stage," said Emily Moorhouse of the Sierra Club of Canada.
At the last major climate-change meeting in Nairobi, then-minister Rona Ambrose was lambasted on site by opposition MPs, her counterpart from Quebec and even France's environment minister for her speech to the general gathering - a large portion of which was an attack on the previous Liberal government.
Ambrose was shuffled out of the portfolio a month later.
