You may have received a mailing from my office warning about the costs of the Kyoto Accord. Most of the major media in Canada, like the CBC and the Toronto newspapers love Kyoto.

Like Chicken Little, they say the sky will fall if Kyoto is not fully implemented. Let me give you a few reasons why I am opposed to the implementation of the Kyoto Accord, or the Kyoto Protocol as it is also known.

First, I am a geophysicist. While I am not a professional climatologist, I am trained in both physics and the geosciences. As a geophysicist, I am very interested in the science of climate change, and not merely the rhetoric.

Despite the media’s repeated warnings about impending and disastrous human-caused climate change, the latest research shows that the problem almost certainly doesn’t exist. Virtually all the last century’s global warming was modest, completely natural and caused primarily by changes in the sun’s output.

Secondly, if Kyoto is fully implemented it will be very expensive for Saskatchewan. Professor Mark Jaccard of Simon Fraser University is an energy expert and one of the first researchers who ran the numbers regarding the effect that implementation of the Kyoto Protocol will have on energy prices in Canada.

In recent testimony before the House of Commons Environment Committee, Professor Jaccard stressed that the cost of gasoline, diesel, electricity and natural gas will double if the Kyoto Accord is implemented. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has calculated that every household in this country will lose about $3,000 per year in net income under Kyoto.

That’s right: Kyoto will cost every family about $3,000 in after tax income annually due to higher energy and labour costs. This income loss will be especially hard on seniors and low-income families.

Finally, Kyoto is bad environmental policy. Kyoto diverted $10 billion away from real environmental problems. Kyoto does not target smog, it doesn’t clean up polluted water, and it doesn’t deal with toxic waste.

Standing up against Kyoto may not be popular with the Toronto elite, but it’s the right thing to do. My job is to stand up for Saskatchewan and support good policies. I expect to be criticized for my stand, but I represent Saskatchewan and will always speak out for my constituency.

I’m Brad Trost, your Member of Parliament, and I welcome your feedback. Write or call my offices.