A big date to celebrate for past Prime Minister Brian Mulroney today.  It was on this date, in 2006, that Canada’s 18^th Prime Minister was named our greenest-ever leader.  From the Montreal Protocol to the Acid Rain Treaty with the United Sates and on through the Green Plan, Mr. Mulroney put the protection of our environment at the forefront of everything his government did. It indeed is a remarkable legacy he is rightfully proud of today.Below is the speech he delivered in accepting this award.  Readers will note that, aside from highlighting the challenge of climate change, towards the conclusion, Mr. Mulroney also mentions Canada's arctic region and our sovereignty over northern waters, an issue that is still very much in need of attention today, given Russia's ever-expanding claims.Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney: When I was very young, we went to the foot of Champlain Street and swam in Baie Comeau, for which my hometown was named.Today, there is a park where we used to swim. The effluence from the paper mill created landfill, where once there had been pristine waters. Nobody swims in the bay anymore.  And that’s where my awareness of the environment, and of environmental degradation, began.  We’ve seen too many such sights in this country, including company towns carved out of the wilderness with little regard for the impact on their surroundings. In fairness, it should be noted that in those days few of us knew any better. Now we do.We need to learn those lessons of careless development, and of neglecting to clean up after ourselves.  We need to learn it especially in the North.  The future of this country is going north, and it is time for a new Northern Vision, one of sustainable development that preserves the Arctic wilderness, protects wildlife and sustains a way of life for our indigenous peoples.In Baie Comeau, I once said: “My father dreamed of a better life for his family.  I dream of a better life for my country.”  Part of that dream was about leaving a more prosperous and united country to our children, but a large part of it was also about leaving our munificent country environmentally whole.This award by a group of environment leaders, as Canada’s Greenest Prime Minister in history, is deeply gratifying.  I thank the panel and accept not only on my own behalf, but on behalf of all who served in our government between 1984 and 1993.I was extremely fortunate in having some outstanding environment ministers — Tom McMillan, Lucien Bouchard, Robert de Cotret and Jean Charest — and dedicated public servants, such as Bob Slater, without whom we would probably not have had an acid rain accord.Under Tom McMillan, we negotiated the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which redressed depletion of the ozone layer; in 1988 we were the first Western government to endorse the recommendations of the Brundtland Commission and the first to embrace the language of “sustainable development.”Lucien Bouchard was the first Environment Minister to serve on the influential Planning and Priorities committee of Cabinet and under his strong direction Canada devised the Green Plan with compulsory environmental review of all government initiatives.  This plan was described by Dr. Mostafa Tolba, Director of the United Nations Environment Program, as “a model for the world.”Under Robert de Cotret, the Green Plan became the standard for environmental policy and we completed the work that began the day we took office when we signed the Acid Rain Accord with the United States in 1991.Under Jean Charest’s inspired leadership, at the Rio Conference in 1992, we helped bring the United States on board in support of the Convention on Climate Change, and we were the first industrialized nation to sign on to the Bio-Diversity Accord.  Canada’s international identity was strongly affirmed as a result of the brilliant contribution of Jean Charest at this seminal conference.We established eight new national parks, including South Moresby in British Columbia, and under the Green Plan put Canada on a path to create five more by 1996 and another 13 by 2000, bringing the national parks system begun by Sir John A. Macdonald with the creation of Banff National Park in 1885, closer to completion.We began the long overdue clean-up of the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence and Fraser rivers, and we launched an Arctic Strategy seeking to protect our greatest and most fragile wilderness area — the North.  And we created the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, recognizing that sustainable development requires the participation and leadership of the private sector.The most compelling environmental challenge facing the world today is global warming.  In Toronto in 1988, we hosted the first international scientific conference on climate change.  The scientists gathered there told us in clear, unambiguous language the nature of the challenge we were facing.  In their consensus statement, they concluded: “Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment, whose ultimate consequences are second only to global nuclear war.”From my own experience, I would offer two observations on addressing environmental issues.First, it doesn’t really matter what the process is, so long as the problem is addressed by leadership. Where political will prevails, solutions will follow.And second, there are few durable solutions on the environment, or on any other international issue, without the engagement of the United States and the leadership of its president.So whether the process proves to be Kyoto, or something else, let’s acknowledge the urgency of global warming. And then let’s get the United States to the table.It isn’t by lecturing the Americans on their record on emissions reduction that we’ll succeed, especially when our own record is nearly twice as bad as theirs.In 1990, our government committed Canada to keeping greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. In spite of signing the Kyoto Accord, which commits us to reducing emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by the period 2008 to 2012, Canada’s emissions have increased by 24%, as opposed to a 13% increase by the United States, which has declined to sign Kyoto.  Simply put, we are in no position to be moralizing with the U.S. or anyone else.  We don’t have the high ground.Whether in the Kyoto framework, or by some other means, Canada must begin reducing its own GHG emissions.Furthermore, there is no solution to the issue of global warming without the participation of business and industry in Canada and around the world.Let me offer two examples, again from my own experience.In 1987, when we signed the Montreal Protocol, we made it very clear to DuPont, the largest manufacturer of CFCs, that there was no turning back from our resolve to eliminate these dangerous ozone-depleting substances.  DuPont responded to the challenge by creating innovative technologies that have only made the company more profitable, as well as a world leader in environmental responsibility.When we negotiated acid rain agreements with seven provinces, we agreed on a binding 50% reduction of sulphur dioxide emissions that caused acid rain.  At the time, Inco’s smelter in Sudbury was the largest single emitter of SO2 in the world.  The company claimed our targets would bankrupt it.But we held firm and ultimately new technology captured the sulphur before it was pumped into the sky and carried by prevailing winds to kill forests, lakes and streams.  Far from going bankrupt, the company became more profitable on the sale of captured sulphur.There are many examples of corporate success stories today on the issue of adapting to climate change.Abitibi in forest products and Alcan in metals have met the challenge of sustainable development. By 2004, Abitibi reduced GHG emissions to 37% below 1990 levels.  Alcan, operating at 430 sites in 40 countries, has reduced emissions by 3.5 million tonnes since 2001. Both have been cited as leaders in their industries by Ceres Inc., a Boston-based coalition of environmental investors that collectively manages US$3-trillion in assets.  Corporate Knights magazine, in its annual survey of the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world, named four Canadian companies to the list – Alcan, Enbridge, RBC Financial Group and Sun Life.There are three elements to Canada playing an important role on the environment: First, leading by example, claiming the high ground. Second, engaging the Americans, and at the highest level of government. Third, involving industry in solutions.Let me illustrate with the example of acid rain, which I raised with President Reagan on my first visit to the White House when I was still Leader of the Opposition in June 1984.  In March 1985, at the Shamrock Summit, he agreed to the appointment of special envoys Drew Lewis and Bill Davis, who reported directly to us.Frank Carlucci, President Reagan’s National Security Advisor, describes how testy Reagan became when his officials continued to stall and stymie my government on issues ranging from acid rain to Artic sovereignty to free trade:

According to a recent account published by Professor Jeffrey L. Chidester, Reagan took Carlucci aside and said: “I think we should do something for Brian.” “I” Carlucci said: “Mr. President, we’re doing well holding our positions on acid rain, the free trade agreement and the Northwest passage. ‘Oh, no, no, no,’ said Reagan, ‘we ought to do something.’