A man of principle

In response to the Pembina Institute's call for some government leadership in protecting against undue environmental harm linked to oilsands development, Ralph Klein is offended by the very idea of a government bothering to plan anything:

"The Pembina Institute should keep their noses out of anyone's business, especially businesses that want to take risks," Klein said Thursday.

"To have a long-range plan would be an interventionist kind of policy which says you either allow them or you don't allow them [to proceed]. The last thing we want to be is an interventionist government."...

NDP critic David Eggen, who supported the report's call for a comprehensive environmental plan, reacted strongly to Klein's comments.

"It seems pretty irresponsible for him to say that," Eggen said. "If the Tories don't want to make decisions about the future, maybe they should step aside and let the New Democrats take a shot at it."

Naturally, I'd agree with the NDP position that a government shouldn't be completely unwilling to consider the future consequences of present actions. But in fairness, Ralph at least lives up to his apparent ideal in making nonsense up as he goes along rather than planning ahead.