Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Yes, it's absolutely asinine that the Cons' attacks on Muslim women have been extended to denying citizenship based on a particular type of clothing. But after the Cons' repeated efforts to suppress veiled voting, we shouldn't expect anything less from them. And indeed the goal looks to be the same: having been rebuffed in their attemps to prevent citizens from voting while wearing burqas, the Cons have apparently decided instead to deny suffrage to a substantial group of immigrant women by decreeing that they're not allowed to become citizens in the first place.

Instead, let's focus on those who should know better - like Chris Selley, who somehow lauds Kenney for openly sending the message that we should debate which minorities to attack and how, rather than considering the possibility that maybe a government could focus on starting public policy discussions that don't involve gratuitous culture wars and the opening lines of of a "first they came for _______" parable.

- John Ibbitson comments on the Cons' unfortunate withdrawal from Kyoto:

The Harper government’s decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol tarnishes Canada before the world. Liberal and Conservative incompetence and mendacity are to blame. You and I are to blame. And Lehman Brothers had something to do with it as well.

It isn’t easy for a country to descend, in the space of a single decade, from crusader to pariah, as Canada has done on the environment. But our political leaders were up to the task.
...
The Conservative Prime Minister made no effort to hide his skepticism over the treaty and his determination not to allow carbon caps or carbon taxes to undermine the Canadian economy. Still, polls showed that most Canadians were deeply concerned about climate change and wanted the government to take action.

The first effort, in 2006, was such a mess that it cost Rona Ambrose her job as environment minister. After that, Mr. Harper took a personal interest in the matter, and that interest consisted of vetoing any meaningful action. The Conservatives were willing to take steps to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions, but not the actual level of emissions, which would have crimped the oil sands’ expansion plans.
...
Canada gave its word to the world. Canada broke its word. The final confession was as shameful as it was inevitable. No one should feel anything other than ashamed. Not the Conservatives, not the Liberals, not us.

- Which would surely come as a deep personal embarrassment to this fellow:



- At the same time, we shouldn't be surprised that as part of the Con/industry campaign to obstruct action on climate change, we've also seen tar sands operators backing off of whatever nominal effort it was once prepared to make to feign concern.

- But lest it appear there's no reason for optimism, Lawrence Martin places Niki Ashton at the forefront of a youthful brigade in Parliament, while Barbara Yaffe profiles Peggy Nash's leadership run.