The Council of Canadians sent out a message this week to Metro Vancouver and Canadian residents “to turn out the lights and light a candle of hope for the Kyoto Protocol.”

By taking a photo of this action, and sending it to the Council of Canadians, the record of this symbolic action will be forwarded with a message and all photos to Canadian environment minister John Baird. 

International leaders are meeting in Cancun Mexico November 29 to December 10 to discuss international climate change issues such as the Kyoto Protocol.

According to a December 6th statement from the Council of Canadians:  “We likely can't change the Harper government's negotiating position over the next two days, but we can send a powerful visual that Canadians care and want their country to be committed to the Kyoto Protocol.

While the Harper government denies that it is killing Kyoto, it is now refusing to negotiate legally binding emission reduction targets for the protocol's second phase. Along with Japan and Russia, Canada is now standing against the 61 other countries (including all European Union countries) with commitments under the agreement, not to mention the 130 additional countries that have signed and ratified the agreement. Canada is standing very much alone in its opposition to the protocol.”

Environmental groups such as the Vancouver-based Wilderness Committee have also publicly criticized the British Columbia government’s climate change policies.“I was concerned to read Minister of State for Climate John Yap's editorial saying B.C. is a model to emulate for the international community gathering at Cancun," said Ben West, Healthy Communities campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.

"Minister Yap is seriously misrepresenting B.C.’s record on climate change. Our province was the only one in Canada that saw emissions from industrial sources increase last year," said West. "The largest source of emissions in B.C. is automobile traffic. The provincial government has made funding highway expansion a priority as part of the provincial and federal Gateway Project.”

More information about the UN Climate Change conference is available at the UN conference website.

Also read about the campaign to stop the Gateway Freeway project.