Canada’s unscientific Copenhagen team

One thing is clear from the Canadians selected to inform our negotiating team in Copenhagen — environment minister Jim Prentice has no interest in science, nor the environment.

I’m pleased to see Mary Simon representing the Inuit and Shawn Atleo representing Canada’s First Nations who will suffer the greatest effects of climate change. I’m concerned, however, that the Environment Minister has not named a single member of any environmental organization, nor a single climate scientist to help inform his team. Worse still, Minister Prentice took an opportunity to insult the work of the Pembina Institute recently. Canada’s position cannot be balanced if our advisors are heavily tilted to industry and even our Environment Minister is dismissive of the role of environmental organizations.