Prominent Canadian author Naomi Klein says Prime Minister Stephen Harperâs absence from Tuesdayâs UN climate summit is just the latest event to demonstrate his governmentâs lack of interest in the environmental issues.
Activist groups have also opposed Harperâs policies on issues, such as and .
Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, say Harperâs policies are all designed to increase growth, âwhether itâs free trade, whether itâs the tar sands.â
âAnd that logic is what is at the heart of the climate crisis.,â she told CTV Question Period.
Klein criticized Harperâs support for pipelines and the oil sands and called for more investment in green alternatives.
âEach of those pipelines represents an expansion of production in the tar sands,â Klein said. âThat is exactly the wrong direction if we want to take the climate science seriously.â
Conservatives defend climate record
Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who will be traveling to the UN summit in Harperâs place, told the House of Commons on Friday that Canada âis the world leader when it comes to addressing climate change.â
Aglukkaqâs parliamentary secretary, Colin Carrie, said Sunday that the Conservative government has helped both the economy grow and emissions shrink.
âFor the first time weâve actually decoupled economic growth with greenhouse gases,â he said.
An Environment Canada 2013 report, titled Canadaâs Emissions Trends, says greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 4.8 per cent between 2005 and 2011, while the economy grew by 8.4 per cent in that same time period.
But NDP environment critic Megan Leslie said the Conservatives are taking credit for improvements they had nothing to do with, and emissions went down because of the recession.
Leslie also accused the Conservatives of exaggerating the benefits of their coal regulations, .
Economy before environment
Klein also criticized the opposition partiesâ stances on the environment and economy.
âIt seems that the price of admission for any politician who wants to be âtaken seriously,â quote un-quote, is to pick a pipeline and cheer for it,â she said.
Though both Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair have rejected the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline through British Columbia, they both support other projects.
Trudeau is in favour of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring oil from Canada into the United States. Thomas Mulcair supports a west-east pipeline that would transport bitumen to Atlantic Canada.
âThis seems to be what the opposition leaders believe they have to do in order to signal to Bay Street that theyâre serious about the economy,â Klein said.
Despite the apparent tension between economic growth and environmental sustainability, Klein said she thinks Canadians can have both.
âWe can have a successful economy within the boundaries of our carbon budget,â Klein said. âCanadians overwhelmingly do care about climate change, and the major political parties are not offering them a real alternative.â