Baird under international pressure

Public concern over the environment is steadily rising, according to a poll conducted by Canada's Strategic Counsel and the Globe and Mail.

"It's developed a top-of-mind salience the likes of which we've never seen before,” said Allan Gregg, chair of the Strategic Counsel. “In 30 years of tracking, we've never had over 20 per cent saying they think this is the most important issue.”

Meanwhile, international pressure on Canada to commit to emission reduction targets is increasing.

On Wednesday, John Baird met with former British Environment Minister Elliot Morley,Tony Blair's special envoy on global warming.

Morley called on Canada to join "the G8 plus five"(including Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) to reduce GHGs.

This week, even President Bush addressed the environment during his State of the Union address.

He called on Americans to confront the “serious challenge of global climate change."

But Bush made no allusion to mandatory reductions in U.S. GHG emissions, disappointing a group of top U.S. corporations, who recommended a 60 to 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050.

Such wake up calls for Canada to join the world in combating climate change are especially timely. The International Panel on Climate Change will release its dreary fourth assessment report on Feb. 2, 2007.