Briefly: More than 66,000 people registered for United Nations climate party in oil and gas-rich republic.
Bob Mackin
Four senators appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among Canada’s participants at the annual United Nations climate change convention in Azerbaijan.
Formally known as 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — or COP 29, for short — 66,778 people from 3,704 states and organizations have registered to attend the Nov. 11-22 event in the capital Baku.
Trudeau Liberal environment minister Steven Guilbeault and his pollution cap (Instagram/Guilbeault)
By comparison, only 3,975 participants from 70 states and organizations chose the less-polluting virtual option.
Senators Mary Coyle (Nova Scotia), Rosa Galvez (Quebec), Joan Margaret Kingston (New Brunswick) and Pierre Jacques Daphond (Quebec) are representing Canada. Galvez is there officially as the president of ParlAmericas, the association of 35 legislatures in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Trudeau Liberal environment minister Steven Guilbeault is leading Canada’s core, 72-member delegation at the conference, more than 9,000 kilometres from Ottawa. Guilbeault came to announce a $2 billion financing scheme for countries affected by climate change. He is accompanied by Deputy Minister Jean-François Tremblay, Assistant Deputy Minister of International Affairs Michael Bonser, Catherine Anne Stewart, Canada’s Climate Change Ambassador, and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse.
Within Guilbeault’s delegation are Chief Climate Negotiator Jeanne-Marie Huddleston and 12 others with “negotiator” in their job title. One of them, Hannah Romses, is the negotiator for gender and action for climate empowerment.
Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Premier Andrew Furey is on the secondary, 298-member list of Canadians with Deputy Minister Valerie Annette Snow. So are Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz, Deputy Minister Sherri Lee Ann Wilson and Assistant Deputy Minister Tristan William Sanregret.
British Columbia’s government is not represented, because the conference is so soon after the Oct. 19 election. But a membership director of B.C.’s Young New Democrats, Eric David Froese, is on the non-governmental organization list with members of the evangelical Care of Creation Inc.
Climate Action Network Canada registered 13 people to attend in-person, including former B.C. NDP leadership hopeful Anjali Appadurai of the Padma Centre for Climate Justice.
Environmental Defence Canada Inc. is sending six.
University of B.C.’s five-member contingent includes Associate Dean of Forestry Guangyu Wang and Associate Law Professor Carol Liao.
Major Canadian oil, gas and infrastructure companies are registered, including CNRL, Enbridge and AtkinsRealis, formerly known as SNC-Lavalin.
In total, there are 638 references to Canada in what the UN calls the provisional list of participants.
Canada’s main list of 72 registered officials is small, compared to China (190), Israel (221), United States (247) and Russia (900).
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