Brokers and barriers

I've seen a few commentaries lately criticizing the lack of multi-party cooperation on the environment. But from what I've read, Don Martin's column today is the first mainstream article to point out that there's already one party doing everything it can to bring about that kind of cooperation on an actual plan:

Sitting in the middle of the debate wearing looks of wide-eyed disgust are the New Democrats. And while this praise doesn't come easily to me, there's not much doubt they're the honest brokers of the debate. They've pushed for speedy action on the government's bill and have proposed a series of amendments to expedite it along.

"It is like a pantomime between Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton," cracked New Democrat MP Denise Savoie as she watched accusations of climate-change inaction being exchanged between Liberal and Conservative MPs.

Of course, it's awfully tough to be a successful "honest broker" when trying to work out an agreement with parties which are either trying to minimize the scope of what needs to be done, or to delay in hopes that nothing will be accomplished at all. And as Martin notes, that explains both the NDP's current frustration, and the lack of progress to date.

But if enough attention gets paid to the difference between those looking to posture on the issue and those looking to get something done, it's hard to see how any party could stay in the former category without paying a serious political price. Which means that we can only hope that more commentators will reach the same realization as Martin - since that may be the only way to push the Libs, the Cons or both to cooperate in a real discussion on emissions reduction.