Is the tanker starting to turn? Prime Minister Harper now says he wants a binding deal and will attend the leaders’ summit on the last days at Copenhagen.

Over the weekend, President Obama announced he was changing plans and would be attending the final days’ leaders’ summit, as opposed to a cameo at the beginning. His position had been that he would attend if enough progress was made with Asian giants like China and India and he felt showing up could clinch a deal.

The Premiers of BC, Quebec and Ontario were already committed to attend. In this Real News video, we look into why Canada’s federal government seems to be moving so grudgingly. And why the feds are falling so far behind provinces like BC, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba – each of these provinces is doing worthy things on their own and all have joined in the Western Climate Initiative which now covers 80 per cent of Canada’s population and 75 per cent of the country’s gross national product.

The politics and provincial divides are a hot topic these days. I recommend catching up on why Ekos pollster Frank Graves thinks climate is an “exposed flank” for the Tories which “… is already acting as a significant break on Conservative fortunes and it has been for some time.”

Also, Chantal Hebert gives an overview of why the climate issue puts Harper on unity hot seat. Joseph Heath turns Quebec’s influence inside out in Doomed to be dirty and makes the case that for all the clean energy action in that province, “with many Quebecers on the sidelines of Canadian federalism, there’s nothing to stop the oil patch from carrying the day on climate change.”

Click here to watch an interview with Tzephorah from Copenhagen