On mimicry

After years of indignation over both the merits of the Kyoto Protocol and the Libs' usual gap between words and actions, the Cons have apparently adopted both for themselves in one fell swoop:

As the annual United Nations climate change conference wrapped up late Friday, Ambrose admitted her government was forced to use the past nine months to learn about the climate change treaty so it could be genuine on the international stage about Canada's intentions and its record.

"When I was appointed as environment minister, we were faced with a very difficult challenge, and at that time, I was very hesitant about saying that we would participate in this protocol in the way that we hoped we could," she said.

"We've made a lot of progress in the last nine months to make sure that we can align our domestic policy with what we'd like to do internationally - with our international obligations - and so now we can say that."...

Although Ambrose has criticized Kyoto in the past for not setting binding targets on developing countries, she's comfortable with a decision at the conference to allow this practice to continue.

"It's an evolving protocol, it's still fairly young," she said. "Every step we take to show that the protocol is a success, lays the foundation for opportunities for other countries to consider joining."

It's a small plus for the Cons to have abandoned their previous position that they'd take action on greenhouse gases just as soon as everybody else in the world did first, and then only with the approval of the oil patch. But even with anti-Kyoto rhetoric apparently off the table, there's still an awfully long way to go to actually get anything done.

After all, Ambrose's current position still doesn't include any means of actually reaching the obligations, and indeed Canada's continued failure to meet its commitments can only "lay the foundation" for other countries to follow suit. And if the Cons have indeed simply taken up the Libs' habit of buying time by approving of goals with no plan to meet them, then it's well past time to accord them the same rude awakening that the Libs received from Canadian voters.