Canada's role in UN negotiations on climate change appears to be shrinking in response to the Conservative government's mixed messages about the Kyoto Protocol.
Environment Minister Rona Ambrose will officially serve as president of the UN Kyoto talks to take place May 15-26 in Bonn, but her role will be much reduced from that played by former environment minister Stéphane Dion at the last round of Kyoto talks in Montreal.
Unlike Mr. Dion, who spent a year rallying support for the Montreal climate conference last year and personally led the talks, Ms. Ambrose is expected to play an insignificant role in practical terms.
"The role of the president of the COP [Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol] is . . . largely ceremonial," said John Hay, spokesman for United Nations Climate Change Secretariat in Geneva.
"The president makes some administrative decisions, but these are process related and not highly political. In Bonn, Minister Ambrose will open the proceedings and chair a bureau meeting. She is scheduled to leave the same day."
Yet Mr. Dion's role as president of the Montreal talks in December was far from ceremonial. He travelled the world to build support for his agenda and personally led the talks, salvaging a final all-night session from near collapse.
He was given substantial credit for the outcome -- a commitment by all Kyoto signatories to negotiate a second phase of the treaty beyond its original expiry date of 2012, despite U.S. opposition.
Ryan Sparrow, a spokesman for Ms. Ambrose, said it was inappropriate to compare the conference in Bonn with that held in Montreal.
He said the meeting in Bonn is technical and will be attended by only two ministers, Ms. Ambrose and her counterpart from Germany, the host country.
"Our minister is attending because she's representing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Her accepting the presidency sends a very strong signal that we're willing to engage in international discussions."
Since entering office, Ms. Ambrose has said Canada will stay in the Kyoto Protocol, but won't meet its emissions-cutting targets under the treaty. She has stated interest in a rival pact, the Asia-Pacific partnership, which has no targets.
In the Commons yesterday, Ms. Ambrose said the government is working on a "made-in-Canada" solution and seemed to disparage the Kyoto treaty.
"The difference between the Kyoto plan and our made-in-Canada solution is the Liberals were willing to send billions of dollars in tax dollars overseas," she said. "Our made-in-Canada solution refuses to do that."
The Kyoto plan does not require countries to spend money overseas but has mechanisms through which wealthy countries can get credit for emissions-cutting projects in developing countries.
Ms. Ambrose has hinted that the Conservatives have new ideas about how to tackle climate change but has not given specifics.
Canada is one of the few major countries that has not submitted any proposals on how to advance the climate battle in advance of the Bonn meeting, Mr. Hay said.
"It [the Bonn meeting] is historically significant, it's the beginning of the dialogue on long-term co-operation. There's no obligation to send us written submissions in advance [but] the major industrial countries have done so."
John Bennett of the Sierra Club said the Conservatives have retreated from leadership on the most pressing environmental issue facing the planet.
"Dion had more than 200 meetings around the world in the year prior to the Kyoto conference [in Montreal]," Mr. Bennett said. "He was not ceremonial whatsoever. He and his staff were working around the clock. If Rona [Ambrose] is just flitting in to bang the gavel a couple of times, our role has shrunk from being a central player to literally nothing."
