Canada: notorious for tar sands, not green policies. Photograph: Orjan F. Ellingvag/Dagens Naringsliv/Corbis
The Yes Men - or somebody suspiciously like them have struck again and this time the victim was Canada.
And who better? The Canadians have emerged as the villain of the climate change negotiations for pumping out greenhouse gas emissions with the full-on exploitation of the Alberta tar sands.
In the Yes Men's first transatlantic action, an email purported to be an official Environment Canada press release this afternoon announced an incredibly ambitious plan to cut carbon emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020. It also went on to commit Canada to paying 1% and eventually up to 5% of its GDP in 2030 to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
"Canada is taking the long view on the world economy," the fake press release said, attributing the statement to the environment minister, Jim Prentice. "Nobody benefits from a world in peril. Contributing to the development of other nations and taking full responsibilities for our emissions is simple Canadian good sense. We want to show the world that Canada is a leader on climate change."
That would make a nice change. The Canadians have been regularly vilified by NGOs at Copenhagen, getting a Fossil of the Day Award for obstructing the talks.
Today's hoax was fairly detailed. The initial email was followed up by a phoney press release from the Uganda delegation and a link to a video of a press conference on a phoney version of the official Copenhagen climate meeting site.
"This is a day that will define our century," the fake Ugandan official said in the press release. But there was no sense of celebration in the video, in which the fake Ugandan official scolded the Canadians. "You are holding a loaded gun to our heads," said the official. "You left us no choice but to see you as criminals."
There was even a spoof write-up in the Wall Street Journal The flourish was a reminder of the Yes Men's last hoax: a US Chamber of Commerce press conference at the National Press Club in Washington. A number of news organisations fell for that stunt.
In a reminder of that gaffe, the fake Journal article said it based its account on "at least one source".
But as the real Jim Prentice told reporters later today: "The press release was a hoax." He called the stunt "undesirable".
Staff
Contributor
You have characters left
Please read our community standards.
Closing this window without pressing "Post your comment" will result in your words being lost.
Are you sure?
Thank you for your comment. This has been submitted for moderation.
Your comment has been successfully posted.
Sorry, something has gone wrong and this action cannot be completed. Please try again later.