Climate change negotiating seat goes unfilled for months Environmental groups say they have had limited contact with the government since Michael Martin left. By Carl Meyer Published May 19, 2010

View story Email Comments To the Editor

While the Harper government continues to be hit with criticism over its environmental policies, Canada has been left without a permanent climate change negotiator at high-level talks for months.

Though environmental experts say former chief negotiator Michael Martin's absence won't make much difference, since he had to toe the government line, they say not having a full-time negotiator has eliminated the little amount of contact they had with the government.

Mr. Martin, who had been Canada's climate change point man for years, was promoted to deputy secretary to the Cabinet at the end of March. The government hasn't replaced him. Environment Canada's assistant deputy minister of international affairs, David McGovern, has taken over the job in the interim.

An Environment Canada spokesperson said that the government will be appointing another permanent negotiator "in the near future," but that this will not occur until after the upcoming UN climate change negotiations in Germany are over.

The government insists Mr. McGovern is highly capable and can fill in during the interim until a new negotiator is found.

"Mr. McGovern is experienced in international negotiations and has acted as head of delegation at previous UN climate change intersessional meetings on behalf of Canada," the spokesperson wrote in an emailed response.

The Prime Minister's Office referred questions to the department. Neither Mr. McGovern nor Environment Minister Jim Prentice were available for comment.

Environmental NGO leaders who have met with Mr. Martin personally said they have mixed feelings about his departure. On the one hand, they say, Mr. Martin was very professional in his job, and actually opened up the government to engage in much more dialogue with them than they had been given in the past.

On the other hand, they argue that Canada's policies and positions on climate change are determined directly by the PMO. As negotiator for a highly politically charged issue, many suspect he was held on a tight leash and ordered to play various different obstructionist roles at negotiations.

"I will give him credit for opening up the dialogue, but he championed a consistently damaging position, and if I were him I'd be embarrassed for having done so," said Climate Action Network Canada executive director Graham Saul, who met with Mr. Martin on several occasions.

"I think the vast majority of countries would be happy to see less of Canada during these negotiations," he added. "That's a real shame, because Canada was once a constructive player within these negotiations, and now it's a consistent obstacle."

"Canada, on numerous occasions, blocked progress in negotiations. So having Canada as either not present, or sitting silently in a chair, would have been better than our interventions," said Dale Marshall, a climate change policy analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation, who also met with Mr. Martin.

"If you asked Conservative officials, they would probably say he did the job well, which is why he was rewarded a senior position in PCO. Obviously they're very pleased with the way he handled the mandate that he had," said Steven Guilbeault, a founding member of Équiterre, who met with Mr. Martin as well.

Little contact

Since the Copenhagen summit, and especially since Mr. Martin's departure, environment groups say the government has had little to no contact with them. This, they argue, is alarming given not only that the next major climate change talks, to be held in Mexico in December, are just over six months away. It's also quite shocking, they say, given that Canada is hosting next month's G8 and G20 summits.

"After a monumental, international meeting, before Canada hosts another important summit, you would think there would be interaction," said Clare Demerse, associate director of climate change at the Pembina Institute.

Still, meetings aside, many in the climate change community are skeptical that a new permanent negotiator, having to report to the same political masters, will be capable of bringing anything new to the table.

"We're not going to see a lot of progress in international negotiations. Potentially, someone like Michael Martin can deflect criticism away from Canada and its role. So they'll probably try to find someone similar who can deflect criticism," said Mr. Marshall.

"No matter how skilled your negotiators are, if they are working under instructions that are not ambitious, that are seen by other countries as being blocking or problematic, they are going to come under criticism," said Ms. Demerse.

Mr. Guilbeault said that as a civil servant, the climate change negotiator should be more reflective of all Canadian views, not just the government's policies.

"If you look at a number of policies that have been adopted by Parliament, these go against the positions of the Conservative government," he said. "Which begs the question, is civil service there for Canadians as a whole, or for only a subsection of the Canadian electorate?"

But John Drexhage, the director of climate change and energy for the Canadian-based International Institute for Sustainable Development, disagreed that it was Mr. Martin himself who deserved criticism.

"It's not a reflection of Martin himself, it's more a reflection of anyone who would take on that position, that brings a lot of sensitivities to Canada," he said.

Mr. Drexhage said Mr. Martin was "under a tremendous amount of challenges, and sometimes pretty vitriolic accusations on some sides, particularly from some of the environmental constituencies and youth groups."

Canada's reputation was attacked at the end of Copenhagen, when many accused the country of walking away with even lower commitments than it had going in.

Now, as the country courts the international spotlight again, environmental groups are desperate for someone who can begin to change Canada's notoriety on the world stage.

They say that more dialogue is constructive, but that negotiators have to be willing to do more.

"Fundamentally, we need someone who's ambitious about Canada's performance, and who makes sure that Canada is not seen as a laggard, at the back of the pack," said Ms. Demerse.

cmeyer@embassymag.ca