Tuesday Update

The story today is Canada and the real leak. Not the spoof press release of yesterday. (Today a group called the "Yes Men" took responsibility for the hoax press release in which Canada reversed itself and took a good position! Amazing impact that had. Countries praising us and then realizing our position was still the worst.)

Today's news was the CBC story of Canada's plans to deliver even less than our so-called targets.

We have gone from being the object of anger and hostility to being the butt of jokes.  I kept getting the "blague du jour" from other countries and NGOs..."We may be bad, but at least we are not Canada!" or "Thank goodness for Canada. It makes us look good."

Today I met one of Jim Prentice's advisors for the negotiations. Mike Holmes from "Holmes on Homes." Definitely a nice guy and an ethical carpenter. I guess it is important for Prentice to have advisors who don't know more than he does about climate science or UN process or the history of Kyoto.

The other weird strand of this meeting continues in the abuse of civil society.  It is a truism that the UN is capable of mind-blowing inefficiency, but the systematic abuse of NGOs makes it hard to believe it is not deliberate.  It puts me in   in mind of a line from the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago where my mum was a delegate and I went along at 14. She thought it would be great for me to see "democracy in action."  So after the "police riot" (official inquiry finding) and the abuse of delegates for Gene McCarthy, one such victim said "I was not convicted and sent here. I was elected and sent here." Well, true enough, no one elected the 20,000 or so legitimate and accredited NGO representatives  (a term that includes labour unions, indigenous groups, universities, environmental groups, religious organizations and so on), but the essential elements of the experience apply.   This morning Jacques and I set out. The only Canadian Green Party reps with full credentials and the new extra pass required under new rules.  We took the official COP15 delegate bus which (up until today) had dropped delegates near the front door.  Today it dropped us a half mile from the site, funneling hundreds of people between concrete barriers.  A heavy police presence forced us into a bottle neck in which we were yelled at and shoved into another long procession of humanity and we were told to get to the back of the line.  Another half mile later we found the back of the line.  They had run out of concrete barriers and we were herded between strips of police tape.  Gradually we began to exchange notes and figure out that some in the line had just arrived and had no credentials. Some had credentials and hoped to have the white access card later. And some of us, oh lucky ones, had credentials and the MAGIC pass.  And all in the same line. Which didn't move. For three hours.

Any efforts to get a sensible answer were rebuffed by Danish police. UN officials stay inside giving instructions... Meanwhile the army, wearing camouflage, took pity on us and started delivering cups of hot tea through the mesh in the fence.  The army here are a kindly lot.  (They all seem a bit old, a nice group of seniors. An old buddy of mine noted this and asked a local about the advanced age of their army. "Oh," he explained, "that's our reserves. The army is in Afghanistan."

Finally a policeman who seemed to be a higher up took note of the fact that hundreds of delegates were trapped, despite having both forms of credentials and we were sorted and allowed to make our way toward the hall.  From a 9 AM arrival, I got in at noon.

So, does progress get made? Not in today's negotiations.  Too many working groups and contact groups have finished what they can accomplish leaving much undone -- square bracketed texts meaning too many countries are holding to their own fragments of text. Now what can be agreed upon must be negotiated by heads of government and their ministers.

Governor Schwarzenegger spoke today in a side event. Jacques Rivard attended and told me that Schwarzenegger says it is time to give up on national governments. He suggested the UN convene a treaty process for states and provinces and cities to cut Greenhouse gases while we have time.... Maybe he's got a point.