TAKE ACTION! 
Encourage Canadian PM to Ratify Kyoto, Effectively Bringing Treaty 
into Effect at WSSD - http://forests.org/emailaction/climate.htm 

There is intense speculation that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien may 
commit Canada to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol during his trip to 
Johannesburg next week for the World Summit on Sustainable 
Development (WSSD).  Should Mr. Chrétien do so, he would effectively 
deliver the protocol to the world community. 

The Kyoto Protocol will come into effect globally when ratified by 
countries responsible for at least 55 per cent of the world's 
greenhouse-gas emissions in 1990.  As it stands, countries 
responsible for 37.1 per cent have done so.  Russia, which is 
responsible for 17.4 per cent of 1990 emissions, has vowed to ratify 
and is expected to do so this year.  Canada's ratification, with 3.3 
per cent, would bring the total above the magic 55-per-cent mark. 

For a Prime Minister at the end of his term who is casting about 
for a legacy, this would be a world-class coup.  Before the eyes of 
the entire World, it would confer heroic status on the Canadian 
leader.  It would also bring the World Summit on Sustainable 
Development back from the brink of irrelevance by delivering a 
finished international protocol that was born 10 years ago at the 
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. 

No one knows whether Jean Chrétien will use his speech at the Earth 
Summit to announce Canadian ratification of the Kyoto climate treaty 
- but it has been widely hinted he is seriously considering doing so. 
In a poll announced today, more than 76 per cent of Canadians think 
Canada should adopt the Kyoto protocol at the WSSD in Johannesburg. 
Canada stands to be particularly hard hit by climate change; 
including coastal flooding, loss of permafrost, shifts in natural 
ecosystem, forest decline, and more severe droughts and floods. 

Please Let Prime Minister Chrétien know you support Canadian 
ratification of the Kyoto Treaty at this historic moment: Send an 
email at http://forests.org/emailaction/climate.htm or call, fax 
and/or send a personalized email using the following information: 

The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien 
Prime Minister of Canada 
Telephone Number:  (613) 992-4211 
Fax Number:  (613) 941-6900 
Email Address: pm@pm.gc.ca 

This is quite important - forward widely to other lists and 
colleagues. 

Glen Barry 
M.S., Ph.D. (abd) 
President 
Forests.org, Inc. 
gbarry@forests.org