[Cobourg, 14 December] Local federal Green Party candidate Ralph Torrie joined Green Party Elizabeth May in praise of the progress made on climate change at the conference in Cancun.

Torrie commented, "I know this issue can seem far away, but how the world responds to the threat of climate change will affect our weather, our local farmers, our local economies, our local governments and the quality of life in Northumberland Quinte West for decades into the future. One way or another we will become less dependent on fossil fuels in the years ahead, but how rough or smooth that transition will be depends on what we do now to put a greener energy system in place. The Cancun meeting has kept hope alive for international agreement on this vital issue that affects all."

As for Canada's role in the negotiations Torrie commented that "We are no longer a leader on this issue; I think at best we were ignored and at worst our government was ridiculed for its backward thinking and foot dragging."

"As a middle power, our relevance on the international stage goes up when we lead and goes down when we don't. When it comes to climate change, nobody looks to Canada for leadership anymore. It is a very regrettable outcome of the failure of both the Liberal and the Conservative governments of recent years to understand the economic opportunity presented by the energy transition that the world is entering. They just don't get it.

"It will be the countries that tackle this issue that will be the economic success stories of the 21st century. Those will be the countries and economies with technologies and the solutions that everyone else will want. Canadians should be pressing their governments at every level to support aggressive policies for clean energy; we need it now."