COP14 begins, and Canada's government is about to fall

Incredible. Just when we think we have our messages for our government in hand, and we have a grasp of what we think Canada might do in the negotiations, we find out that back home, Parliament Hill is in chaos. It seems that Canada is headed for election #4 in 5 years - what other government has had so many elections as this? It's mildly embarassing, if not humourous! Once again, Canada is a subject of ridicule and snarky remarks here at the UN conference - only this time it isn't YET about being obstructionist idiots in the negotiations...but that remains to be proven otherwise.

Moving on, today has already been intensely busy. Last night my laptop took a nose dive in the productivity department, and I have decided to ditch it and rely on cell phones and the computer lab at the UN. Yet another challenge to completing this blog with any kind of regularity! But so far, so good.

This morning, the international youth policy team reached consensus on a document that outlines our positions on various key issues including deforestation, emissions reductions, adaptation to climate change, our shared vision for the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol (which is what this meeting is largely about), and a few other issues we think are critical in this year's negotiations. The international youth are extremely skilled at co-operating, and I sense we will be a very powerful force. It's very exciting!

Following that, I joined other Canadians to attend a meeting with the Canadian Environmental NGO's (non-government organizations). These include the brainiest of the bunch from Pembina Institute, WWF Canada, Greenpeace Canada, David Suzuki Foundation, etc. They have been very welcoming of the large Canadian youth contingent, and we are very excited to be able to contribute meaningfully to their strategies and tasks. We will be helping to develop messaging, translating media releases into French, and contributing to the intel we acquire from attending various meetings, negotiations, and conversations with government delegates.

And to wrap up the morning - yes, just the morning! - the Canadian Youth policy team held our first meeting here at the UN conference to discuss how we'd like to approach a meeting with our government if, in fact, they come. Everything is very much up in the air regarding whether Prentice will arrive, how the coalition and potential government fall might affect negotiations here, and what we should expect in terms of meetings with our Canadian government officials here.

The next two weeks promise to be light on food and sleep, and heavy on meetings, running around to find people, scrambling to write press releases and policy positions, and of course, finding the odd side event with free food! I will try to get more photos to upload soon.