Canadian Winter Games athletes sent a letter to Prime minister Stephen Harper Wednesday, warning that winter sports has been threatened by global warming and urging him to support an agreement on cutting greenhouse gases at the ongoing UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen.

The letter was signed by more than 20 current and former members of Canada's Olympic team, who said that higher global temperatures caused by greenhouse gases has an impact on winter activities in Canada, such as skiing, snowboarding and ice fishing.

"We can't sit on the sideline when solutions exist. We must act," they said in the letter.

They called on Harper to ensure that Canada would play a constructive role in building an agreement on cutting greenhouse gases at the Copenhagen conference.

"We are hoping that Canada signs a fair, ambitious and binding agreement at the UN climate summit," they said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2009)