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<td style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 25px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(3,53,13); FONT-SIZE: 18px" class="contentheading" width="100%">Canada violating Kyoto law <br><br></td>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="center"><font size="4">Environmental groups challenge federal government on
failure to act on climate law</font></p>
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<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">MEDIA RELEASE<br>October 15, 2009</p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">TORONTO – Environmental groups are in court today challenging
Canada’s federal government for its violation of the Kyoto Protocol
Implementation Act (KPIA).</p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">Friends of the Earth, represented by Ecojustice and Paliare Roland
Barristers are arguing before the Federal Court of Appeal that Canada’s Minister
of Environment and the Governor in Council are in violation of the Canadian law
that requires Canada to take strong action to meet binding international
commitments to fight climate change. <br> <br>“It’s an embarrassment for all
Canadians that our government has said it won’t even try to honour its legally
binding commitments nor has it taken the honourable step to negotiate compliance
penalties,” says Beatrice Olivastri, Chief Executive Officer for Friends of the
Earth. “Canada is acting like a bad boy on the world stage by ignoring its
domestic law requiring climate action.”</p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left"><br></p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">The lawsuit asks the court for a declaration that the Minister of the
Environment and the Governor in Council are breaking the law by failing to meet
the legal requirements of the KPIA including enactment of legally binding
regulations to combat climate change. The Court previously ruled that the
legislation itself is not justiciable – meaning it is not an issue the Courts
can resolve. The groups are asking that the Court of Appeal set aside this
previous ruling.</p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left"><br></p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">“The case targets the fundamental question of whether the government
is above the law,” said Ecojustice lawyer Hugh Wilkins. “The law states that
Canada must take strong actions to address climate change, but the government
has explicitly failed to do so.”</p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left"><br></p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">“If the government is allowed to continue its blatant disregard of
this legislation, it could make the same claim for various other laws that it
does not want to obey,” said eminent Canadian lawyer Chris Paliare. “This isn’t
acceptable.”</p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left"><br></p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">The appeal will be heard at the Federal Court of Appeal at 9:30 a.m.
today at 180 Queen Street West, Toronto. Chris Paliare, Beatrice Olivastri and
Hugh Wilkins will be available for comment in front of the court at 9am.</p>
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<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">Read <a style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,119,170); TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.foecanada.org/images/stories/pdfs/KPIA/friends%20of%20the%20earth%20(kpia)%20appeal%20factum.doc.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">FOE's Factum</a>, <a style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,119,170); TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.foecanada.org/images/stories/pdfs/KPIA/respondents%20factum.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Governments Factum</a></p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">For more information visit <a style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,119,170); TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.ecojustice.ca/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.ecojustice.ca</a> and <a style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,119,170); TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.foecanada.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.foecanada.org</a> or contact:</p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 12px" align="left">Beatrice Olivastri, Friends of the Earth Canada (613) 724-8690
(cell)<br>Chris G. Paliare, Paliare Roland Barristers (416) 646.4318<br>Hugh
Wilkins, Ecojustice (416) 368.7533 ext. 34 <br>Albert Koehl, Ecojustice (416)
368-7533 ext 29 (French and Spanish inquiries)</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></table>