Canada on Monday officially withdrew its participation from the expiring Kyoto Protocol, a pact between nations designed to reduce carbon emissions and prevent global warming. Environment Minister Peter Kent said that while Ottowa would continue working to reduce its greenhouse gasses, the Kyoto Protocol “is in the past.” According to Kent, its goals are unworkable because the two largest sources of carbon emissions, the United States and China, never agreed to the pact.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has refused to implement the Kyoto Protocol since taking office in 2006, and in 2010 the government announced it would not meet the target of 6% fewer emissions below 1990 levels by 2012. Kent argued the previous government agreed to the treaty “without any regard to how it would be fulfilled.” He has pledged a 17% reduction from 2005 levels by 2020.
