Completing the purge

Apparently at least one part of the existing greenhouse-gas-reduction structure had managed to escape the Cons' axe...that is, until now:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has dismissed a special environmental adviser the former Liberal government named to kick-start Canada's attempts at curbing greenhouse-gas emissions under the Kyoto accord.

Critics said the move torpedoes the Canada Emission Reduction Incentives Agency, also called the Climate Fund, and suggested Harper does not intend to soften his opposition to government funding for the reduction of greenhouse gases...

On Harper's recommendation, cabinet approved an order earlier this month that vaguely referred to fixing "the salary and other employment conditions" of Allan Amey, named by former prime minister Paul Martin in 2005 as the Climate Fund's designated president and also special adviser to the deputy minister of the environment...

The cabinet order disclosed no details other than specifying a slight increase in Amey's maximum salary to $200,000 annually, effective last April 1. But the chief press aide to Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, Bob Klager, later confirmed the order was "administrative, to facilitate Mr. Amey's release."

Amey declined to comment, saying he is bound by a legal agreement with the government. His term as president of the Climate Fund would have been five years once the agency began receiving federal funding to purchase emission-reduction credits, which has not occurred. Amey is a former vice-president of TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. who headed the Alberta government's Climate Change Central before his federal appointment.

NDP MP Nathan Cullen said the dismissal reflects the fractured approach the Tories are taking on global warming and greenhouse-gas emissions.

"It's very hit and miss, mostly a path of destruction, with the odd bone thrown out that might feed somebody somewhere."

It's far from clear how an order retroactively increasing an official's salary would "facilitate" his release. About the only way the strategy could accomplish anything is if the Cons' goal was to issue an innocuous-sounding order rather than one which revealed its true purpose at the time, presumably by including any planned severance amount in the increase.

If that's the case, the Cons seem to have succeeded for now. But in the longer term, one has to figure that the Cons' consistent pattern of duplicity will hurt their cause in the long run as Canadians realize that nothing they do can be taken anywhere near face value. Which will lead to nothing but rightful suspicion as the Cons start trying to claim credit for rebuilding what they've eagerly torn down since taking office.