Transport Canada to study climate change impact on 3 northern airports

CBC - Transport Canada to study climate change impact on 3 northern airports

CBC
The federal government is commissioning a study to look at the effects climate change is having on northern infrastructure.

The study will focus on three northern airports: Inuvik, N.W.T., Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, and Churchill, Man. It will examine the damage and look at ways to stop it from getting worse.

Transport Canada says the results could help airport operators determine what investments are needed and help them adapt to the changing climate.

But critics say it's simply a band-aid solution.

PM Stephen Harper touts Alberta model for climate change

Prime Minister Stephen Harper answers a question during question period in the House of Commons, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014 in Ottawa. The Canadian Press 

The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the Alberta approach to pricing and controlling greenhouse gas emissions could serve as a model for all of North America.

In a year-end interview with CBC News, Harper insisted that Canada can’t impose new rules on its oil and gas sector unless the United States does too.

But he added that he is actively proposing to the U.S. and to Mexico that they work with Canada to cut emissions “on a continental basis,” and the Alberta model is one that could work for all three countries.

“The Province of Alberta itself already has a (model); it’s one of the few GHG regulatory environments in the country….” Harper said. “I think it’s a model on which you could, on which you could go broader.”

Canada halfway to meeting 2020 climate goal

 Bruce CheadleThe Canadian Press
Canada remains well short of meeting its international 2020 climate change commitment, Environment Canada reported Monday, even if the economy tanks and global oil and gas prices remain on the skids.

Even under the worst-case scenario, the 2014 Emissions Report says Canada would still fail to cut greenhouse gases 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 — as Canada committed to do under the Copenhagen accord.

The report, which includes measured emissions through 2012, suggests that under its benchmark projection, known as a reference scenario, Canada will get just over halfway to its international commitment.

“The government of Canada is focused on a pragmatic approach to addressing climate change that will reduce emissions while continuing to create jobs and encourage the growth of the economy,” states the report.