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"It's as if we don't believe the future exists," says Eric Galbraith, an oceanographer and McGill University professor who recently returned from a research expedition to Antarctica, where the extent of melting ice will have an enormous influence on global temperature, ocean acidification, and rising sea levels thousands of kilometres away.

"Why plan for the future when there is this economic problem which needs to be dealt with? The approach is reactionary, worrying about what will happen in the next six months."

"Canada has played an embarrassing role in international climate discussions in the last five years," says Damon Matthews, a professor at Concordia University and one of the authors of a major report on climate targets and projections published by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

"The Harper government has not wanted to take a stand on climate change and, as far as I can see, has acted as an obstructing force. I don't remember how many 'fossil of the day' awards Canada won at the last climate convention, but more than any other country." Reasons for this are obvious, says James Ford, a geography professor at McGill who specializes in climate change vulnerability and adaptation.

"Canada has been slow in dealing with greenhouse gas emissions, largely because we have the tar sands. We are 30-per-cent above where we are supposed to be according to the Kyoto Protocol," said Ford. "The tar sands development really is the elephant in the room."