The views expressed in this publication are provided here to stimulate discussion and learning. They do not reflect the views of Canada’s World staff, reviewers, funders, collaborators, or the SFU Centre for Dialogue.

Earth has been enveloped in a layer of greenhouse gases almost since the beginning of time. Water vapour and other gases in our atmosphere have acted like the glass of a greenhouse or a parked car on a sunny day. They have allowed the sun's rays to warm the earth but have trapped some of that heat, preventing it from rebounding into space. For billions of years, this greenhouse effect has made the earth warmer than it would otherwise have been, creating an ideal incubator for life. Unfortunately, humans may be tampering with the incubator's delicate control mechanism, pumping out excess greenhouse gases that may lead to sustained increases in the earth's temperature, threatening the sustainability of the planet.

A key question for citizens is: what is Canada's role and responsibility in addressing this global threat? We need to think about how Canada contributed to the climate change problem and what we can do to fix it. And how can we reconcile our desire to be environmentally responsible with our role as a leading producer and exporter of greenhouse gas generating fossil fuels?

The voices of Canadians are needed in this debate - we will live with the consequences of choices made and we have a right and a responsibility to provide direction to public, private and not-for-profit leaders. This primer provides some background to help inform citizen deliberations on this theme.

The above questions have also preoccupied environmentalists and politicians and a great deal of the public discourse in Canada in the wake of the recent global conference in Bali, Indonesia, last December that sought to lay the groundwork for a new international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The last agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, was signed by Canada in 1998 and ratified in 2002. Under Kyoto, Canada agreed to:

→ slash its greenhouse gas emissions to about 560 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or 6 % below 1990 levels.

→ Instead, by 2005, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions had hit an estimated 747 megatonnes, 25% higher than in 1990 and a full 33 % above its Kyoto commitment.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Canada 1990-2005

The deadline for achieving the 6 % reductions is 2008 to 2012. The October 2007 speech from the throne conceded that: "because of inaction on greenhouse gases over the last decade, Canada's emissions cannot be brought to the level required under the Kyoto Protocol within the compliance period."

Canada's failure to fulfill its international obligations-whether because of a lack of will or a poorly conceived promise in the first place-seems to fly in the face of the public's desire that Canada be a global leader on climate change. A 2007 poll conducted for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Canada West Foundations found that 67 % of respondents "believe Canada should take a leadership role in the fight against climate change, either as the leading country (18%) or being among the leaders (49%)." There is less consensus about the nature of that leadership. According to the same poll:

→ 44 % of Canadians think that we would be "most effective" in achieving progress on climate change if we were to "serve as a model country that sets an example for others."

→ Another 15 % believe Canada should exert "diplomatic or trade pressures on other governments"

→ And another 28 % favor "the development/export of new environmentally friendly technology."

Next section: Background