Environment Minister Peter Kent declined to confirm or deny that Canada is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, a move that would save the country as much as $6.7 billion and make it the first of 191 signatories to annul its obligations. Kent declined to confirm that Canada would pull out of Kyoto, but he did say the government wouldn't make further commitments to it. "Kyoto is the past," he said at a press conference. While Alberta's Environment and Water Minister Diana McQueen said Kent was "being realistic," Elizabeth May, leader of Canada's Green Party, said the move would put the nation's economy at risk. "We're condemning ourselves to rising costs from extreme weather events as well as opportunity costs like the failure to have a renewable-energy industry," she said. Kent did say that Canada would not obstruct others from continuing with the Kyoto Protocol, but that he would push for a new agreement to eclipse it. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Environics Research Group indicated that Canadians want the country to be part of an international climate change treaty and would even support carbon taxes. For the full story, see http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-02/canada-may-escape-6-7-billion-bill-by-exiting-kyoto-protocol.html.