Sunday, June 01, 2008

On hot air

If the Cons were looking to draw fire for their neglect of the environment, they could hardly have done better than John Baird's message today. As the rest of Canada debates the relative merits of cap and trade systems and carbon taxes, the Cons have apparently decided to signal their distaste for either means of actually reducing emissions, instead picking a fight with both Ontario and Quebec over their efforts to put the former together.

Of course, the problems with the Cons needlessly attacking Ontario in particular have already been well documented - and adding Quebec into the picture can only help to lose the Cons votes in the two provinces where they most need to try to pick up seats to have any hope of a majority. But Baird seems to have taken the image of bashing central Canada several steps further by coupling his unwarranted criticisms of cap-and-trade with inexplicable praise for Alberta's no-cap, no-trade, no-tax, no-meaningful reduction excuse for a greenhouse gas emissions strategy.

As a result, Baird's position not only shows just how far the Cons are from the real debate over Canada's choices in dealing with climate change, but also reinforces the image of Harper's government as firmly in the pocket of the oilpatch rather than willing to even look at national interests. And the opposition parties will be happy to have that example to point out as an indication of why it's long past time to end the Cons' stay in power.

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