Guilbeault brushes off opposition calls to cancel China climate trip
CBC
Canada's environment minister travels to China today to attend diplomatic meetings with an international group that advises Beijing on climate change — and he's ignoring opposition calls for him to quit the group and call out China over human rights abuses and alleged interference in Canadian elections.
Steven Guilbeault is attending the annual general meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), along with representatives of the United Nations, from Aug. 28 to 30 in Beijing.
In an interview with CBC News before his departure, Guilbeault stopped short of committing to bringing up China's interference in Canadian democracy and its human rights record during his trip.
"We will confront them when we have to confront them," Guilbeault said Friday. "But we will also cooperate on issues like climate change and nature."
Canada helped to establish the CCICED in the early 1990s to help China with its environmental challenges.
The Conservative Party of Canada is calling on Guilbeault to immediately resign as executive vice chair of that group and cut its funding.
"Canada's leaders should not hold formal positions in groups run by foreign governments," the party said in a media statement.
"If Minister Guilbeault insists on travelling to Beijing, he should firmly and vocally denounce Beijing's interference in Canada's democracy."
Ottawa has earmarked $16 million for the council from 2017 until 2026, according to Guilbeault's office.
Guilbeault called the Conservatives' position "extremely hypocritical." He said former Conservative environment minister Peter Kent, a longtime cabinet colleague of the party's current leader Pierre Poilievre, held the same position on the CCICED and visited China for council meetings.
"There is no solution to tackle climate change without involving all the large emitters around the world, and that certainly includes China," Guilbeault said.
"There is no solution to the global nature and biodiversity crisis without working with countries like India, China and Brazil, and that's exactly what I'm doing."
Jonathan Pedneault, deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada, said Guilbeault is the one who is being hypocritical.
Pednault pointed out that China buys almost 50 per cent of coal exported by Canada and urged the minister to stop selling the fossil fuel.
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