Will that translate into any real increased pressure on the political types? Well Suzuki has set up an online letter writing campaign at his web site where you can get a letter in your name written to all the previously mentioned political leaders, as well as the leader of Bloc Quebecois.
I don't know how effective this will be except maybe to remind the politicians that the people of Canada believe that the issue of air quality is just as important as the budget and tax rebates. But of course that's the reason that all of them have for spending any time on the issue. If the Canadian public didn't care as much as they do now do you really think that any of these politicians would give a rat's ass?
Probably not, which is all the more reason to go over to David Suzuki's site and sign up to send a card to remind the political types what's important. Sometimes I don't think they'd remember their own names if the Speaker of the House Of Commons didn't call upon them when they stood up to speak in Parliament. Hoping they'll remember the environment without help when there are no cameras present is a little too much to ask
Right now they are playing their Green Game because they know it plays well with the Canadian Public. But until the House actually votes in legislation that curtails emissions from car and industrial smokestacks sufficient to meet even the bare minimum asked of by the Kyoto Accord, it won't be anything but a game.
The real losers in this game are going to be all of us; the planet, and anybody who is able to come after us without being born with an oxygen tent built in.
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.