By The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Four provinces representing almost 80 per cent of Canada’s population have signed an international agreement among sub-national governments to combat climate change.
Environment ministers from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec signed what they’re calling a compact today in Lima, Peru, where an international climate conference is underway.
They’ve joined with 12 other sub-national governments — ranging from New South Wales in Australia to Scotland — to form a group that will present the results of a new pilot program on emissions reporting and climate change action.
It comes a day after Quebec, Ontario and the government of California issued a joint statement stressing the productivity and job opportunities presented by moving to a low-carbon economy and the need for collaboration.
The provincial moves come before today’s speech by federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq to the climate conference, where observers say the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has had a very low-key presence.
Aglukkaq’s address comes a day after her own department issued a report reaffirming that Canada is nowhere close to being on track to meet its 2020 carbon reduction targets negotiated in 2009 at the last major climate change summit in Copenhagen.
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