Well, what a day in Committee. Lot's of drama, good behaviour, less than exemplary behaviour and all in all, pretty heady stuff for political junkies.Schreiber? No, that is not the committee I'm speaking of. I will speak to what went on there, but later.
No, the Committee I'm speaking of was the Environment Committee, where once again John Baird made an absolute ass of himself and insulted every Canadian who cares to pay attention to his baffle-gab.
He once again gave a misleading power point presentation that said absolutely nothing, but clearly showed that this Government is going to Bali with one motive, and one motive only. That is to derail the summit using misleading information. This government is determined to dismantle all the tools that the Kyoto protocol gave the International community.
To my way of thinking, so far, they sadly have been successful. I do not think that the world has held to the courage of it's convictions. I understand that certain forums require consensus, but perhaps it's time to review that protocol and shine a light on the dissenters.
So what happened at Committee? Baird blustered, the Lib's pointed out that Baird had misquoted not only Gore, but Achim Steiner UNEP Executive Director . Baird spun and denied of course. The Lib's went on to point out that not one economist, not one environmental group nor one scientist has endorsed the Con plan. Baird said something like, you can always look at the naysayers. Huh? (btw, what is this man on? His ability to spew nonsense at the speed of sound is truly disconcerting.) Bottom line, NO ONE on the planet supports you. Baird is okay with that.
The Bloc then brought up a news wire item (that I cannot find yet), I think from the UN that denounced the Con position. Baird shrugged it off, he hadn't seen it.
The NDP reiterated the Lib point that they have no endorsement then went on to ask good questions. I do like Cullen the NDP member on this file because I see him as committed as are the Lib's and the Bloc. Cullen makes me nuts often with his reference to the Lib's and inaction, etc., etc. (Yes the Lib's didn't do enough but, the fact is that they the NDP voted the Lib government down when reg's were finally going to happen after years of the con's shooting them down...don't get me started.) Anyway, Cullen went on to ask good questions. The Lib's started with credibility and Cullen expanded on it. He asked how many regulations this government has passed, how many GHG'S have been reduced, do you have an economic assessment for Canada vis a vis your plan and who has validated your program? Zero was the non answer we received.
The Con's? Why even bother? No questions really, just lavish praise on current non-action and disgusting misinformation about the previous government.
Baird went on, through questioning to quite clearly blow smoke into the room. He purposely confused hard targets with intensity based. John Godfrey, (Lib), asked how on earth could he go to Bali and insist that other countries commit to hard targets when Canada is not.
The long and short or it, Baird exposed his lingo. Hard targets is a phrase that Baird often throws out. He interprets that as anything that could be manipulated in a power point presentation as real, but it's myth.
I do not know who is behind the spin, but I suggest they are genius. Nothing, I repeat nothing, that Baird said today even remotely touched on what we are facing in terms of climate change.
In the end, predictably, the Con's moved a motion to congratulate this government and wish them well in Bali. GAG!
After much procedural wrangling, that motion was supposed to be debated, but the Con's filibustered, again, but this time it was against...themselves!
Hello, do you guys know how ridiculous you look? You sound like your sycophants on the BT aggregator. Who is leading who here? I cannot see the difference.
The opposition walked out and broke quorum and rightly so.
Two years of bluster from this government has only produced hot air and no tangible plan. Nothing, nada. Media are great at reporting announcements, but if there was even one honest media rep there, (the chairs were bare), I beg you to tell the truth of what you saw today.
I doubt that will happen, everyone was on the Scheiber story.
Shiny objects do not move this country forward.
Committee's on Parliament Hill deserve more attention and Canadians deserve more information.
For the record, I doubt this post will resonate, ie, not garner comments. Fair enough, but to me, that's a truly sad commentary.
Update: This is a Leader.
Update 2: Well said.
9 comments:
The one thing we don't have time for any longer is useless spin on global warming. We're in a window of opportunity to take effective action but it's closing, perhaps faster than we imagine. We will eventually accept solutions to the problem but they won't be the best solutions, the easiest solutions, the least painful solutions. We let those slip through our fingers twenty years ago. The sad thing is that today's best, easiest and least painful solutions are also slipping through our fingers. The longer we wait, the harsher the medicine we'll have to swallow. Think environmental Buckley's.
More like environmental chemotherapy.
MoS and ottlib, indeed.
How do we change that though? The media is not listening
I just linked to Steve, (far and wide) who tells us that Dion is going to Bali. I think that is brilliant, but in the end we have to engage the people.
We are, unbelievably, not there yet.
Buckley's...that made me gag as you intended.
Chemo, perhaps a more accurate view.
The thing that really burns me is that it would be so much easier for the conservatives to do something positive than it was for the minority liberals, who had the conservative opposition to contend with. Harper would have unanimous support in Parliament if he went for hard targets.
But what can you expect from a party that leads through ideology.
Chemo - we'll all need it if the environment isn't cleaned up.
Gayle's point is the really infuriating one for me. All throughout Kyoto's history while the Libs were in power it was opposed by Reform/CA and then the CPC and denounced routinely as a socialist scheme to transfer wealth under the cover of a non-existent problem called global warming. When a Lib government FINALLY puts forward real legislation to take real action written by Dion in the Martin government it is defeated before it can be enacted. Yet now the Cons are the saviors of the file and the issue?
I mean really, the amount of selective memory on this file politically is incredibly offensive. Sure, the Libs didn't get things done, but then the Libs had a fairly loud vocal opposition constantly harassing them whenever they tried to that was willing to use western alienation and the many comparisons of Kyoto to NEP to drive up regional angers making it that much more difficult for any government to push through. Now when the only opposition to Kyoto is the government it somehow claims the mantle of leadership on the file while continuing its constant pattern of weakening to preventing any real action being done, real action as defined as needed by the scientific community and not the political rhetorician community that is.
Nice post KNB, and a very relevant one. It had some resonance though given the responses it has gotten already if not as much as it deserves (at least not as of yet).
The Cons keep trying to make people believe that Dion was environment minister all those 13 years. He was only environment minister for 18 months - less time than Harper's been in government.
Gayle and Scotian...too true and it is infuriating.
I watched the committee meeting that preceeded the one I wrote on, earlier today.
4 witnesses. 2 from the con side, and Pembina and a youth coalition group.
It's obvious, so damned obvious who they are taking with them to Bali. Contrarians. Is there any doubt as to why they have not released who they are taking with them?
2 years wasted when if they had truley believed, they had a gold key.
Anyone who believes the Con's on this issue is prepared to allow future generations, to pay the price. They are prepared to allow those who are already devasted by poverty, drought and war based on resources, die.
Astonishing isn't it? The thirsty US has already made it clear. War is about ideology and needed resources. We now are following suit.
Too radical? Well, it's a larger conversation than a comment box will allow so suffice it to say, contrarians seem to have misplaced the brains they were born with.
Anon @ 3:27, Indeed. Facts do not matter to Con's. They are all about the spin and out and out lying, no more, no less. That is who is running the country.
btw Scotian, I very much appreciate your resonance comment.
I'm not sure I'm the one to do it, but through I hope, a dignified discussion,(though I confess my frustration shows), I hope I contribute.
That's my sole aim in doing this.
I'm a reclusive artist by nature. Putting my views out there in words is new. Visually, I am not afraid. Verbally...different story.
Life is like that, no?
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