OTTAWA - Two influential Canadian business groups urged Ottawa not to ratify the Kyoto protocol on global warming, saying that to do so would cost thousands of jobs and billions of dollars.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said ratifying Kyoto would cut national GDP by up to 2.5 percent in 2010 and do C$30 billion ($19 billion) worth of damage to the economy. CCC president Nancy Hughes Anthony said Kyoto would impose a heavy burden on Canadian firms and make their products less competitive in the United States, where President George W. Bush last year abandoned the protocol.
"Canadian consumers and businesses will not be able to make the changes necessary to achieve Canada's Kyoto commitments by 2010," she told a joint news conference in Calgary.
"At this time, we believe that it would be foolish for Canada to ratify Kyoto without a clear understanding of the issues on a national basis."
Ottawa has consistently said it intends to ratify Kyoto, which would oblige Canada to cut its greenhouse emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels by 2010.
But in the face of strong resistance from businesses, energy producers and several provincial governments, Ottawa has replaced talk of ratification this June with a pledge to hold more consultations with those involved.
Environmentalist group Greenpeace called on Canada this week to follow the lead of the European Union, which earlier in the day agreed to be bound by Kyoto.
"Doubt over Canada's ratification gives hope to polluters. It's no accident that after Ottawa backed off ratifying by June, powerful groups have launched Kyoto attacks," said Greenpeace climate change campaigner Steven Guilbeault.
Canada's association of manufacturers and exporters last week said implementing Kyoto could slash 450,000 jobs and cost around C$40 billion - figures which Prime Minister Jean Chretien immediately rejected.
Hughes Anthony said the government needed to produce a detailed plan showing exactly how Canada intends to meet its Kyoto targets and showing the effect on every region.
"Business is prepared to support a national plan on climate change, but we need a solution that reduces worldwide greenhouse gas emissions without crippling the Canadian economy in relation to our NAFTA partners," she said.
Kyoto has long been on the hit list of the CAPP, whose members rely heavily on booming exports of natural gas and oil to the United States.
Canadian Environment Minister David Anderson is due to hold one-on-one talks with his U.S. counterpart this week during which he will try to press Washington to do more to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.
Bush last month proposed an alternative plan to Kyoto that would use voluntary incentives to get industry to reduce the output of gases blamed for global warming.
Ottawa does not think the plan goes far enough and Anderson said he would be exploring with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Whitman whether Bush's proposals could be brought more into line with Kyoto.:
