MONTREAL - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore was full of praise on Saturday for Quebec's environmental policies but much less forthcoming about what he thought of Canada's record.
"I am going to try to stay out of Canadian politics -- I'm even trying to stay out of U.S. politics these days,'' Gore said to chuckles at a news conference.
"Quebec has really done a much better job than many regions around the world.''
Gore, who was in Montreal to attend an environmental training session, lauded Premier Jean Charest's government for becoming the first Canadian jurisdiction to introduce a carbon tax.
"Quebec has been the first province to adopt a CO2 tax, which is generally considered to be the single most sensible and effective policy response,'' said Gore, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the global-warming issue.
"You know, CO2 is invisible and tasteless and odourless and it comes with no price tag, so it's invisible to the economy.
Gore said he would like to see a CO2 tax in the United States so it becomes "visible to the economy.''
"Quebec has begun to do that. Now British Columbia has also done it. Quebec has taken other steps that are to be commended also.''
Gore noted that he worked with Charest at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, when the current premier was federal environment minister in Brian Mulroney's Conservative government.
Quebec's carbon tax, which kicked in last year, directs revenues to initiatives supporting green technology.
The plan was created to help Quebec reach Kyoto Protocol targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels by 2012.
Last month, the Conservatives released details of their greenhouse gas reduction plan, which they say will result in a 20 per cent drop in emissions from 2006 levels by 2020.
Gore clearly did not want to openly criticize Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government.
"As for Canada as a whole, again, I am going to try to stay out of Canadian politics,'' he said.
"This is not, or should not be, a political issue. This is a moral issue. It's an ethical issue. It's a spiritual issue in that we have to decide who we are as a people.
"Are we destined to destroy the environment that we depend upon? Is it OK for us to condemn future generations to a diminished Earth? Of course not.
"I'm trying to avoid the political situation, in part because I'm trying to lift this issue into a moral framework where I think it belongs.''
