Lost legacy: An examination of Canada's international climate change behaviour from 1990 to 2002.

摘要

In the early 1990s Canada enjoyed a reputation as a strong environment leader in international climate change negotiations. In the more recent negotiations of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and in the post-Kyoto period however, this reputation has been increasingly called into question. Employing a historical-comparative approach, this thesis examines the factors that account for the progressive to regressive shift of the federal government throughout three periods of international climate negotiations (from 1990 to 2000). Identifying the 1994--1995 period as the point at which this shift began, the study considers the influence of key political actors within the debate and examines the consultative processes that were in place throughout these three periods. It suggests that political leadership (and a consequent lack of such leadership) is a better explanation for this shift than are the consultative processes and the strategies employed by the stakeholders that participated in these processes. It concludes by offering some lessons on the utility of consultative processes.