WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Canada isn’t giving up hope that the United States will tackle the problem of global warming even though it has backed away from the Kyoto accord, says Environment Minister David Anderson.
Anderson noted Tuesday that U.S. President George W. Bush has said he takes the issue of climate change seriously and will come up with his own program.
“We will be waiting to see that program and to see what the (Bush) administration is going to do,” Anderson said at the end of a meeting with provincial and territorial environment ministers.
He also promised to keep pointing out to Bush that Canada feels the United States is making a mistake on Kyoto.
Anderson spoke a day after U.S. Vice president Dick Cheney questioned the value of energy conservation and predicted oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power will continue to fuel the U.S. economy.
“Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is all by itself not a sufficient basis for a sound comprehensive energy policy,” Cheney told the annual meeting of The Associated Press in Toronto.
At the meeting in Winnipeg, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment also endorsed a number of national standards for pollutants such as hydrocarbons in the soil, dioxins, benzene and mercury in fluorescent lights.
Although Quebec refused to sign the agreement, it said it would adopt similar standards within the province.
The ministers also discussed the issue of safe drinking water and promised to cooperate on research and to link water monitoring networks to ensure Canadians have access to comprehensive information.
