Liberals' push to make Tories toe the Kyoto line will backfire on them (Canada)

Dion paints himself into green corner
Liberals' push to make Tories toe the Kyoto line will backfire on them

Lorne Gunter, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Sunday, February 18, 2007

As that great philosopher Kermit the Frog often said, "It's not easy being green." Liberal Leader Stephane Dion found that out this week.

When he was first in his new job -- say, oh, a month ago -- he was treated to favourable headlines such as "Dion paints Tories into green corner," "Voters embrace Liberal stand on Kyoto," and "Environment could be key to next election."

So Dion promptly went out and threw his party's support and resources behind a private member's bill that would force the Conservative government to meet Canada's emissions targets under the Kyoto accord, introduced by one of his Quebec MPs, Pablo Rodriguez.

You could imagine Dion and his advisers congratulating themselves on their cleverness. Here was a way, they undoubtedly reassured themselves, to show the Tories as uncaring on the environment, particularly on climate change. The media were seemingly all behind them, and polls showed voters were rapidly moving that way, too.

Dion was even encouraged to go so far as to ape the rhetoric of the most extreme environmental activists, calling Prime Minister Stephen Harper a "climate-change denier."

(A word about the new semantic fanaticism of the environmentalists: Until recently, those who doubted the theory that man-made global warming will devastate the planet were referred to as skeptics. But being skeptical -- refusing to rush off half-cocked with the fashion of the mob -- can be a good thing. So those who believe the theory recently have taken to calling the skeptics "deniers," instead. This, of course, is intended to raise the spectre of those who deny the historic fact of the Nazis' purge of six million Jews before and during the Second World War. Soon I expect environmentalists to begin referring to the climate catastrophe they are sure is upon us as a holocaust, so they can also then call the skeptics "holocaust deniers," and the smear will be complete.)

But in the month between Dion's warm initial reception as an enviro-hero and the passage of Rodriguez's bill, the polls shifted. Dion's approval ratings are now just half those of Harper's and the Conservatives have pulled ahead of Dion's Liberals in voter preference.

As a result, many of the commentators whose positive words egged Stephane the Green on to bigger and better eco-heights just weeks ago are now suggesting the Liberal boss has gone too far. Analysts who as recently as two weeks ago were predicting that in Rodriguez's bill the Liberals may have found the hammer with which to smash the public's trust in the Tories are now saying it is the Liberals who will be hurt by Bill C-288.

Following the bill's passage, the Globe and Mail's Julia Belluz, insisted (correctly) that "No responsible government could come even close to reaching [Canada's Kyoto] targets without bankrupting the treasury." The Liberals, through their championing of the bill, were foisting on Canada "a deeply flawed treaty -- when it is no longer clear that it is in Canada's best interests to remain a party to that pact."

The same paper's John Ibbitson on Thursday called Rodriguez's Dion-backed legislation "a wildly irresponsible bill." Meeting our Kyoto targets, which would require a one-third reduction in CO2 emissions within just the next five years, would be "impossible," according to Ibbitson, "and the opposition parties know it, but they are hoping that the theatrics surrounding the bill will embarrass the Conservatives."

And the Toronto Star's inestimable Chantal Hebert (who was never a passenger on the "green" bandwagon), wrote Friday that "Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has turned his green armour into a straitjacket." By tying his entire political strategy and personal image to Kyoto, he runs the risk of looking like a wild-eyed zealot if the Conservatives manage to introduce an environmental package (expected next month) that meets the desire of voters to see the environment respected, but not at the expense of jobs, the economy or their lifestyles.

Where was this skepticism ... er, denial of the wisdom of the Liberals' Kyoto strategy a month ago?

Oh, well, better late than never.

The biggest problem for the Liberals is that Rodriguez's bill begs an obvious question that they seem genuinely not to have seen coming: If having a law requiring the federal government to live up to Kyoto obligations is such a good thing and so easy to achieve, how come you didn't pass one when you were in power?

The Liberals signed the Kyoto accord in Japan in November 1997, from then until they were removed from office in January 2006 -- more than eight years -- they spent nearly $250 million on stakeholder groups, economic analyses, consultants, meetings and drafts and were never able to devise an implementation plan that reduced emissions without causing economic devastation.

Now, if the Conservatives can come up with even the shell of a plan, they will get to boast of having achieved more on the environment in a year than the Liberals managed in eight.

Then -- poof! -- there goes the Liberals' main election strategy, which means they will have to start any upcoming campaign with only their Plan B, whatever that is.

lgunter@shaw.ca

Great column! Canada has a "mainstream" news media as socialist and lazy as ours here in the US, and, like our dying socialist "mainstream" newsrooms, they obviously do whatever they can to shill for their party::

When he was first in his new job -- say, oh, a month ago -- he was treated to favourable headlines such as "Dion paints Tories into green corner," "Voters embrace Liberal stand on Kyoto," and "Environment could be key to next election."

Also, it is my impression that Canada, having become more of a socialist welfare state than even the US, has descended further into fascism as evidenced by its far stricter government control over the news that is allowed to reach Canadian citizens. Wasn't it only recently that Canada "allowed" Fox News into their system in certain areas? And didn't the Canadian government attempt to muzzle the internet a couple of years ago when that big liberal scandal erupted?

Harper has my congratulations for NOT running like a scared bunny rabbit from the scumbag liberal newsrooms the way so many cowardly politicians here in the US do. And congratulations to Canadian voters for finally fighting back.

"Canada has a "mainstream" news media as socialist and lazy as ours here in the US,"

Not to appear immodest, since it's certainly nothing to take any national pride in but ... when it comes especially to the "lazy" part, there's no way our msm takes a back seat to anyone else's !!!

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