Compare and contrast

The Harper Cons' official response on an issue where they're not interested in trying to play both sides:

“This document is absolutely not, in any way, an initiative of our government or our party,” said Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in an emailed statement. ”This is a personal initiative of MP Goldring which we strongly disapprove of."

The Harper Cons' official response to Maxime Bernier's climate change denialism:

"I did not talk to Maxime about that [letter] before it was published. As you know, there are many points of view on the science debate that is currently circulating around," said Mr. Prentice in an interview in Washington, where he is discussing climate and energy issues with U.S. officials.

"The views that Maxime has put forward are his personal views. They are not the government's view. I don't specifically share them. He is certainly entitled to his perspective, but it is his perspective as an individual. It's not the government's perspective."

Granted, the fact that the Cons have acted like a government with its head in the oil sands on climate change is still the best evidence that Bernier's view is actually the one driving the party's (lack of) policy. But the fact that Prentice is going out of his way to tiptoe around any criticism of wilful ignorance on the issue sends a rather strong signal of its own - particularly when anybody actually calling for meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions receives exactly that kind of knee-jerk attack that the Cons levelled at Goldring.