Going the wrong way up a dead-end street

I wonder if it's a gift or does it have to be learned.

I'm talking about the Harper government consistently backing the wrong horse, or whatever metaphor you might want to use.

"Critics at the Bali climate change conference are lumping Canada with the U.S., which they say is refusing to commit to deep emissions reductions, thereby hijacking the conference."

We are lumped in with the U.S., thanks to the Harperites and their forelock-tugging to the almighty Bush administration. Harper backed the invasion of Iraq, he thought the mining of southern Lebanon with unexploded cluster bombs by Israel was a "measured response", and now he thinks that backing Bush in his destruction of the planet is a good idea.

"There is a wrecking crew here in Bali, led by the Bush administration and its minions. Those minions continue to be the governments of Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia and others," said Jennifer Morgan, of the Climate Change Network."

Canada is a key part of the dispute, Chao said. On Thursday, Environment Minister John Baird told members Canada is feeling first-hand the effects of climate change, but said the proposed targets are impossible for Canada to achieve.

Of course we can achieve them, but the oil and gas business might take a hit, and the major polluters would have to put some of their gazillions in profit into cleaning up their act. Can't have that. Profit is king, and they paid to get this government elected. They OWN it.

The plan being proposed by Baird would reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 regardless of what comes out of the Bali conference. But the reductions would be from 2006 emissions levels, instead of 1990 levels, which many nations agree is a good starting point for emissions reductions.

"So right after this speech, Bangladesh's representative came out to call Canada's position immoral, dishonest, working against the interests of the planet and working against the interests of individual Canadians," Chao said.

I'm glad to see the rest of the world hammering the Canadian delegation. Do they know that they only represent a little over a third of Canadians? And that's whom they're protecting. The rest of us can just drown in their effluent or choke on their emissions.

"The members, on learning that Canada was trying to set targets at 2006 levels, said that Canada was being misleading and trying to undermine the trust of the talks here among nations," Chao said.

If this is clean government, why do I feel like taking a shower?

"Clean government": rhetoric contrasts with record

"Last night's throne speech surprised commentators with its highly-partisan claim "The government is clean."

After months and months of just-this-side-of-legal manoeuvering and perhaps some that isn't (we'll never know since everything is classified, just like George Bush's government), Harper's government is anything but clean.

I await with eager anticipation when the whole scuzzy operation is blown wide open. I just hope I'm not standing too close when it happens.

Some pundits made much of Stephen Harper's sense of humour, although I have yet to see any evidence of it. In an article in today's Globe and Mail by Lawrence Martin (subscription required), he notes that:

"This kind of good-naturedness looks good on Stephen Harper. Cynical political gamesmanship has been one of his chief problems. He is seen as too conniving by half. Most everything he does is viewed less as coming from his heart than as part of a grand political scheme."

There was nothing good-natured about Stephen Harper's remark. The sneer could be seen and heard from the outer reaches of the universe. He is a cynical political gamesman and there's no evidence that he possesses a heart except perhaps the merely functional muscle that pumps blood around his increasingly rotund frame.

As far as his heavy "humour"goes, he's about as funny as a slipped disc.

As far as Harper is concerned, I'll go with Dion's quote from Al Gore, that the environmental policy of Harper's band of devoted acolytes is "a complete and total fraud".

That goes for everything else in his "clean" government.

Mr. Harper is pursuing his objections

Our glorious leader Stephen Harper has once again shown the complete lack of vision and total disconnection with the concerns of Canadians that have become his hallmarks. After all, it's his country now, and we'll just have to go along with it.

He signed up for Kyoto Lite - which really means Kyoto-nothing.

I'm not sure whether this quote is a misprint, a mis-speak, or a Freudian slip. (Bold typeface is mine.)

"This will be another important forum where Canada can pursue its objections in fighting climate change," Harper said after addressing a high-level summit on climate change.

Pursue its objections? I'd like to pursue my objections too, Mr. Harper - to you, your regressive and bellicose policies, your pursuit of goal that most of the people in this country do not share, and your misrepresentation of all of us to the world. You shame me deeply by not representing me and endangering this country, as Bush and Howard have done to their countries.

Once again, the NDP have Mr. Harper's number on this one. Stevie is becoming more of a bubble-boy all the time.

"NDP MP Nathan Cullen called it an "insult" for Harper to announce participation in the APP while at the UN.

"He has quickly joined Mr. Bush in completely embarrassing himself and dragging Canada's reputation down with him," Cullen said. "We know the one thing we can't afford is delay and unfortunately this is the Conservatives' only offer. The UN Secretary General urged us to action and Mr. Harper chose to run in the opposite direction."

And on behalf of all Canadians who can't be included under the "young" Canadian umbrella, I offer my sincere apoligies for what Stephen Harper is doing to the country the young will inherit. I didn't, nor will I ever, vote for the likes of Stephen Harper. But I only have one vote. Now, you younger people, get out there and vote this guy off the island.

P.J. Partington of Toronto, speaking on behalf of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, said Canada, the U.S. and Australia have a "dearth of imagination or leadership" on the climate change file.

"While my government prefers to play the blame game domestically, others have moved on," he said. "Like young people in these three laggard countries, the rest of the world is moving on and moving forward. I, for one, am sick of being ashamed of my country and its poor behaviour on the world stage."

Nuclear waste? Sure. Just dump it here.

As far as I can tell, the deal reduces to this. Because of behind-the-scenes deals some Canadian governments have cut with the U.S., they can have as much of our oil and water as they want, and are even allowed to use a pre-emptive strike if their energy "security" is compromised (read, they can use as much energy as they want and the rest of us can freeze in the dark). In return, we are required to deal with their nuclear waste because nuclear disposal sites are unpopular in the U.S.

Well, guess what? They're not very popular here either.

Canada to decide within days whether to join new U.S.-led nuclear initiative
By BRUCE CHEADLE

SYDNEY, Australia (CP) - Canada will make a decision on joining a new U.S.-led nuclear initiative "within a matter of days," Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said Thursday at a summit of pan-Pacific leaders.

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is denying reports that it has been suppressing information about the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership after documents obtained by The Canadian Press showed negotiations between Canada and other governments have been ongoing for at least a year.

If it's denying the reports, you can be pretty sure they are very, very miffed about being found out.

...The GNEP, initiated and funded by the U.S. government, is controversial because it proposes that uranium exporting countries bring back spent nuclear fuel for long-term storage.

Harper has made one public statement on the initiative, 15 months ago, in which he promised to defend Canadian interests.

I wish I could believe that, but I'm afraid I simply don't. The defense of Canadian interests only comes out when they've been exposed as clearly not doing that.

...Last week, the government issued a statement saying it had been invited to Sept. 16 talks in Vienna on the GNEP but still hadn't decided whether to attend.

Yet documents obtained under the Access to Information Act show that the Canadian government has been actively considering the initiative since at least March 2006. Negotiations with the United States began as early as May 3, 2006, and the government had internal talking points praising the GNEP proposal as worth pursuit.

Liar, liar...need a fire extinguisher for those pants?

...[A government briefing document prepared by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, dated March 31, 2006, states that dealing with spent U.S. nuclear fuel is "the main driver" of the proposal:

"With regard to the proposed GNEP fuel cycle, we understand the main U.S. driver is to avoid the difficult issues associated with finding waste disposal sites beyond Yucca Mountain," a former nuclear test site in Nevada that is home to America's nuclear waste repository.

Why would anybody think that any U.S. proposal has anyone's else's interests but theirs at the forefront?

...[The Harper government has yet to publicly state whether the disposal issue is negotiable for Canada or is a non-starter.

That's because they were hoping nobody would find out. They'll probably try to put a positive spin on it by saying it will provide jobs for Canadians. Mmmm...dealing with spent nuclear fuel. Now that's something we need to do more of.

I'm thinking of the nightmare of transporting highly toxic nuclear waste back to its country of origin. Apart from the very real risk of accidents schlepping this stuff all over the world, any such transport would be a target for terrorist activity. Sounds like a win-win deal for Canada to me.

Sorry, Mr. Harper, but I think most Canadians would rather refine their own oil rather than sending unrefined bitumen to the U.S. - value added jobs and all that. We don't even have a very satisfactory long-term strategy for our own nuclear waste. It would be a good selling point in the U.S., though. Build as many nuclear plants as you want, guys. We'll dump all the lethal waste in Canada.

...[Australia, by contrast, has been forthright that nuclear waste repatriation is not on:

"We won't agree to do that, and we've always made that clear, we're not planning and we've never planned and we've never said we would," Downer said Thursday.

Until Harper and the crew say that, I won't believe anything else they say. Even if they were to say that, I'm not sure they'd be able to convince me.

...[C]anadian officials have already indicated Canada is ready to join the AP-6, a climate change group that some environmental groups see as a rival to the UN-mandated Kyoto process for reducing greenhouse gases.

Meanwhile, they'll just get on with destroying Kyoto and the environment we all have to live in and making us look like regressive fools.

More (neo)Conservative thuggery

Just when you think they've used all the dirty tricks in the book, the (neo)Conservative yes-men outdo themselves by attacking the David Suzuki Foundation with frequent and vindictive tax audits because its founder dares to question the government's non-policy on climate change.

Say goodbye to freedom of speech. Harper wants to control the entire country as firmly as he controls his caucus.

I didn't think it was possible to loathe these guys any more, but I've surprised myself.

From an article in today's Globe and Mail by Martin Mittelstaedt.

...[B]ut [David Suzuki]'s worried that shooting from the lips too often about federal politicians may have made his namesake environmental charity, the David Suzuki Foundation, the target of vindictive federal tax auditors.

...[M]any of Canada's large environmental groups are also federally recognized charities, and worry that aggressive criticism of government policies might lead to tax-audit retribution, but Mr. Suzuki is one of the few to raise such concerns publicly.

..."[C]ertainly I try very, very hard not to be partisan," Mr. Suzuki said, "but I still will criticize government for policy. I think that's the right of all people."

No energy plan except to sell to the U.S.

Gordon Laxer was a victim of the Conservative dirty tricks campaign when he was invited to give evidence, then was rudely cut off and the committee hearing ended by one of the lock-step, black shirt (neo)Conservative government lackeys.

From "Easterners could freeze in the dark"

Instead of guaranteeing U.S. energy security, how about a Secure Petroleum Plan for Canada?

Harper's Real Agenda

Not fooled by Harper's sudden lurch toward the center? You're not alone. Have a look at this article linked from the rabble.ca website, Manifest destiny will have to wait for majority by Scott Piatkowski.

Once saying in a voice dripping with contempt that climate change was a myth (he based his fund-raising efforts on it), Harper is now greener than Kermit the Frog. (Sorry, Kermit.)

If Stephen Harper and his "we march in lock-step and speak with one voice" (neo)Conservatives make you nervous now, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Meanwhile, the Conservative MP for Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington sends this notice out to his constituents :

"Scott Reid will vote 'Yes' to scrapping the gun registry - but he needs to know your opinion." (The text in bold font appeared in the original notice.)

There follows a request for your name, street number and e-mail address.

Well, Mr. Reid, you've already made up your mind, so why do you need input from the constituents you won't be listening to anyway? More sinister still - why do you need their street addresses?

Mr. Reid followed exactly the same procedure before he voted to reopen the debate on gay marriage, which made Canada look like bigoted, regressive fools. That, I'm happy to say, was roundly defeated.

Hugh Segal, former Progressive Conservative agitator and now a Senator appointed by the last Liberal prime minister (it didn't stop him taking the appointment, though) said in a late 2006 interview with Alan Gregg on TVO that the (neo)Conservatives had trouble with what they called the "yahoo" section at first, the extreme right wing of the Reform/Alliance types that make up the bulk of the party. They had the habit of inconveniently expressing their ignorance and bigotry again and again in public for television cameras and reporters. They have been firmly sat upon now. No one is allowed to express an independent opinion.

I prefer to call them the "God and Guns" crowd. They have nothing to fear from me, but I wish I could feel the same way about them. Holding beliefs in imaginary beings and being armed to the teeth at the same time is a frightening combination.