Of course Mr. Dion is also in the position of being able to take the moral high ground when it comes to the environment. All he has to do is keep repeating "I wasn't the one to scrap our participation in the Kyoto Accord" and drop hints about Stephen Harper being from Alberta where the most business opposition to Kyoto – the oil business – comes from and let people draw their own conclusions. If they conclude that Stephen Harper is a lackey of the oil and gas industry it won't be any skin off his nose.
Now the New Democratic Party (NDP) under Jack Layton are trying to look like they have some influence over events but in reality what little power they might have had is gone. Sure the Conservatives need them if both the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois vote against them, but if that happens can you see what passes for a left wing party supporting the most right wing federal government in Canada's history? Not bloody likely.
Jack has been one of the staunchest supporters of the Kyoto Accord and other environmental initiatives with actual teeth in them that will make a difference. Of all the leaders he seems to be the only to understand that we can't put off taking action any longer. He also knows that the longer we wait to start, the harder and more expensive it will become.
The real problem is that none of them are seen to be offering any real viable ideas except the opposition wants us to sign back on again with the Kyoto Accord, which wasn't that great to begin with, but at least it was something
In the middle of all the politicians posturing, posing, and proclaiming, someone who relay knows what he's talking about when it comes to the environment is touring the country to push for people to force politicians to realize it's not just a fad but folk are genuinely scared.
David Suzuki has climbed on a bus and is touring the country like some latter day traveling evangelical show, preaching the gospel of how we can save ourselves from Global warning. Since Suzuki is usually more popular than any of the politicians people are paying attention to him when he rolls into town.
Article comments
1 - Deano
One of the key problems with all this mostly empty posturing is that once an election has passed, the votes are in, the governing party will actually have to look at whether they want to or can realistically implement any of these policies with any sustainable positive impact.
The cold reality is that most people's support of environmental programmes lapses once it starts to impact on their bottom line. Green issues have moved through waves of popularity and "importance" before but how many people would trade in their SUV's or suffer an economic loss for an environmental abstraction is very debatable - whether it is a Liberal one of a Conservative one.
Kyoto was an interesting example. Despite the Liberal much vaunted "support" for Kyoto, they made little effort to meet their committments. They bluntly never expected to have to meet them and correctly weighed that the political fallout would probably be mininal. In that context, Kyoto and other efforts ahve been vacant and empty gestures, political performance art rather then policy. I unfortunately see little sign that the current political dance will be effectively different.
2 - JimBobby
Whooee! RichardFeller, yer on the money a hunnert percents worth. I figger yer writin' fer a Merkan audience an' yer doin' a dang decent job o' tellin' 'em what's what here in Canajun polyticks.
The publick 'pinion pools is sayin' not too many Canajuns is buyin' the new green Tories.
Now, jest today Harpoon’s all puffy up on his hind legs shellin’ out $1.5 Bn fer eco-votegettin’. I’m a cynical sumbitch an’ the first thing popped inta my cynical head when I seen this headline was that they give that much t’ the tar sands development each an’ every year. They give even more t’ other big oil tax breaks an’ exploration subsudies.
A billion an’ a half ain’t peanuts but the environment’s been shortchanged by this an’ the previous gummint fer decades while at the selfsame time they been pumpin’ billions inta the dirtiest industries we got - oil an’ car-makin’.
PitBull Baird, the Enviro-minister, sez he won’t go fer any carbon tax or a carbon tradin’ scheme, neither.
I figger $1.5 Bn might get a few studies done an’ mebbe even do some real good by gettin’ sum alternative energy generation started up. It sounds like a lot but when you stack it up against the money Harpoon’s sendin’ t’ the warlords an’ opium growers in Afstan, it ain’t huge.
Here in my neck o’ the woods, gummint’s gonna give away a billion bucks to 650 rich tobacka farmers so’s they’ll quit growin’ tobacka.
The Bushman’s spent $500,000,000,000 in EyeRack. That’s five hunnert billion. I keep askin’ myself what the carbon footprint o’ these here Afstan an’ EyeRack Wars is.
I recorded me up a new song today an’ posted it up on my little boog. It’s all ’bout Minister Baird an’ it’s called “How Much is that Pit Bull in the Window?” Drop by an’ listen t’ my screechin' sumtime.
JimBobby
3 - Emry
"I keep askin' myself what the carbon footprint o' these here Afstan an' EyeRack Wars is."
I hears yuh, JimBobby.
I bin wondrin' 'bout dem deepleted uranyum clouds blowin' over everthin'.
'Taint gonna be easy singin' 'bout glowin' hearts when yer lungs is all lit up.
4 - Joe
Whooo-Weee! And I hears dat if we ain't doin' sumtin 'bout 'dat global warmin' the tempurture might go up'ards by like a whole degree or sumtin' in da next hundert years! Ah maht even lose sleep over dat!
It's all political white-wash. No wonder no-one gives a crap.