OTTAWA – The office of Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq turned down Green party leader Elizabeth May’s request to join the Canadian delegation at an international climate change summit in Poland – four days after the ongoing climate meeting started.
The minister’s office said Tuesday a letter was sent to the Green MP on Nov. 15, four days after the two-week conference began, and nearly two months after May says she wrote to the minister in September requesting inclusion.
Participants, delegates or observers trying to make last-minute travel arrangements at the annual United Nations climate change meetings often run into obstacles booking flights or hotels since the summits are attended by thousands from nearly 200 countries who make reservations months in advance.
So May used Green Party funds, and official backing from Afghanistan, which accredited her as member of its own delegation. She says the Canadian government’s approach flies in the face of a longstanding tradition of welcoming diverse views and input from Canadians across the country at international negotiations.
May’s office said they received Aglukkaq’s letter on Tuesday. It told them the department was only allowing representatives of the government to join the delegation. The Green Party also said that Aglukkaq suggested in the letter that MPs could find other options for participating in the conference on a pair of websites for international organizations representing parliamentarians.
Aglukkaq also sent a similar rejection letter to Conservative MP Michael Chong and other members of an all-party Canadian parliamentary caucus that has been set up to discuss climate change issues
Aglukkaq’s office was unable to immediately explain the apparent delay in responding to May’s request, referring questions about the government’s official delegation at the conference to her department.
A spokesman for Environment Canada said that Aglukkaq was heading the Canadian delegation. Dan McDougall, chief negotiator and ambassador for climate change, is representing Canada when she is not present.
The department declined to provide a full list of the delegation, explaining that it was made up of a multi-departmental negotiating team of “government representatives” whose names would later be published by the United Nations on the conference website.
The spokesman, Mark Johnson, said decisions on the makeup of the delegation were based on a number of considerations, including fiscal constraints and “expertise required to meet Canada’s objectives on climate change.”
Environment Canada also said that it consults on an ongoing basis with a variety of groups and academics about climate change policy, and was also holding daily “stakeholder briefings” with Canadians on the ground to provide updates on the status of the negotiations.
