carbon tax; health news; Can. rejects Kyoto; GoodWork

Mon Oct 8 22:59:51 EDT 2007

1.
Quebec introduces carbon tax, Canada CEOs urge more
Mon Oct 1, 2007 2:56 PM EDT
By Jonathan Spicer

TORONTO (Reuters) - The province of Quebec slapped the country's first
carbon tax on energy firms on Monday, as Canadian business leaders urged
"environmental taxation" to rein in greenhouse gas emissions.

Indeed, other non-energy companies which use large amounts of carbon
products could also take a hit from the tax, warned the president of the
cement industry, citing companies such as St. Lawrence Cement and LaFarge.

Cement is "certainly an energy-intensive industry ... but this tax
unbalances our competitiveness across Canada, with the United States, and
with the global cement industry," Pierre Boucher, president and chief
executive of the Cement Association of Canada, told Reuters in an
interview.

The carbon tax, proposed more than a year ago, is expected to raise C$200
million ($202 million) a year to fund the province's plans to reduce
emissions.

It includes a per-liter levy of 0.8 Canadian cent for gasoline, 0.9
Canadian cent for diesel fuel, 0.96 Canadian cent for light heating oil,
and C$8 a tonne for coal.

It wasn't immediately known whether the oil companies, including
Petro-Canada and Imperial Oil, would pass along the cost to consumers.
Separately, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives said on Monday Canada
should become "an energy and environmental superpower," and suggested
higher energy prices to help cut emissions.

"The price signal is an important means to ensure that energy use reflects
its environmental costs, and these signals can be strengthened through
market-based mechanisms such as emissions trading and environmental
taxation," the council said in a statement.

Since 1990, greenhouse-gas emissions in Canada, a net exporter of energy,
have risen more than in any other leading industrialized country, data
submitted by the Group of Eight rich nations to the U.N.'s Climate Change
Secretariat shows.

Quebec has pledged to meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol on climate
change.

Canada has signed on to the agreement, which calls for a 6-percent cut in
emissions from 1990 levels by 2012, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper has
said that target is impossible to achieve.

Instead, the minority Conservative government aims to cut emissions from
greenhouse gases -- the key contributor to climate change -- by 20 percent
from current levels by 2020.

($1=$0.99 Canadian)

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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2.
Latest health news - October 3, 2007
from Denise Fletcher 
<http://psychactivist.wordpress.com>http://psychactivist.wordpress.com

1.3 billion mental health days
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-sickdays2oct02,1,462588.story?track=rss>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-sickdays2oct02,1,462588.story?track=rss

Healthy living could save U.S. $1 trillion, study finds
<http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prevent3oct03,1,5741914.story?track=rss>http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prevent3oct03,1,5741914.story?track=rss

High-carb diet may help you think faster
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070928/hl_nm/high_carb_dc;_ylt=Ap6fkBtLyh3l4ohyiwx28sLVJRIF>http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070928/hl_nm/high_carb_dc;_ylt=Ap6fkBtLyh3l4ohyiwx28sLVJRIF

Kids are Big Users of Dietary Supplements, Study Finds
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299103,00.html>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299103,00.html

Let the post-diet era begin
<http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/articles/2007/10/01/let_the_post_diet_era_begin/>http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/articles/2007/10/01/let_the_post_diet_era_begin/

Natural medicine on trial: The trouble with herbs
<http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3024732.ece>http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3024732.ece

Ron Paul's Statement on SCHIP
<http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst093007.htm>http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst093007.htm

Screening kids poses risk of harm - letter to editor by Dr. Dan Fisher
<http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2007/10/03/screening_kids_poses_risk_of_harm/?p1=email_to_a_friend>http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2007/10/03/screening_kids_poses_risk_of_harm/?p1=email_to_a_friend

Talk Therapy Pivotal for Depressed Youth
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/health/research/02depress.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/health/research/02depress.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

We Can Do Without TeenScreen
<http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/09/30/we_can_do_without_teenscreen>http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/09/30/we_can_do_without_teenscreen

Work stress tied to higher depression risk
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071003/hl_nm/work_stress_depression_dc;_ylt=AjRCMjJTzh7OigE_u4ryiRnVJRIF>http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071003/hl_nm/work_stress_depression_dc;_ylt=AjRCMjJTzh7OigE_u4ryiRnVJRIF

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3.
Minister Baird Goes to Washington and campaigns against Kyoto

Environment Minister John Baird was in Washington on September 27 and 28
to attend a meeting of some of the world’s largest greenhouse gas
polluters convened by U.S. President George Bush.

Canada is now openly campaigning for an international deal that rejects
the central foundation of the Kyoto Protocol: absolute emission reduction
targets for industrialized countries. According to the Globe and Mail,
Prime Minister Harper pitched “intensity targets” during a dinner with UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. President George W. Bush and other
world leaders at the United Nations just days before Mr. Baird’s trip.

For more information on last week’s meeting in Washington, see:
<http://www.usclimatenetwork.org/international/climate-week>http://www.usclimatenetwork.org/international/climate-week

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4.
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http://www.GoodWorkCanada.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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    - Peter Blanchard

--
GoodWork Canada
Canada's Green Job Site Since 2001
http://www.GoodWorkCanada.ca

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