COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – The draft agreement out of the Copenhagen climate change conference represents a serious setback to the global effort to tackle climate change, says New Democrat Leader Jack Layton.

“The world’s attention was focused on Copenhagen and everyone had hoped for an ambitious, fair and binding agreement,” said Layton, who is attending the COP15 United Nations climate change conference. “Failure to achieve this is a major setback.”

Layton noted that stalling by the Canadian government contributed to the break-down of the talks. “Canada became irrelevant at this conference; we were labelled a fossil and the Harper Conservatives did not offer any improvement on their previous statements. Despite the overwhelming support of Canadians for hard caps and a real plan to cut emissions, Harper has sided with the big polluters.”

"The people, whether in Canada or around the world, are way ahead of their leaders,” said Layton. “The Harper government played no constructive role and did not represent the will of the majority of its citizens.”

New Democrats will return to Canada with a renewed determination to challenge Harper’s approach to the climate crisis. “We will press forward with our legislation to force the Harper government to act in preparation for the next conference in 2010.”