Harper Says Economic Recovery Must Precede Environmental Fixes
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will use Canada’s co-chairmanship of next year’s Group of 20 countries meeting to urge members to put economic recovery before efforts to protect the environment.
“Without the wealth that comes from growth, the environmental threats, the developmental challenges and the peace and security issues facing the world will be exponentially more difficult to deal with,” Harper said in an address to South Korea’s National Assembly.
Harper is in Seoul, his last stop on an Asian tour, to discuss with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak how the G20 conference they’re co-chairing in Canada will advance efforts to coordinate a global recovery. The remarks were made ahead of global climate change talks starting today in Copenhagen.
Seoul is the last stop on a tour that started on Dec. 2 in Beijing, where the Canadian leader shored up relations with China and won commitments for more purchases of Canadian commodities.
Harper’s visit to South Korea started with a trip to the demilitarized zone that has separated the Korean peninsula since 1953. He accused North Korea of embracing ideals that have let the nation “flounder.”
“The truth of the ideals for which we’ve fought has been revealed beyond a shadow of a doubt as this republic has flourished while the communist north has floundered,” Harper said in today’s speech.
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