Sometimes, no news is, in fact, news. It’s been five years since we marched in Calgary and demanded that Canada and every other G8 nation adopted the Kyoto Protocol. Its been five years since Bad Religion toured with “Kyoto Now” on their lips and a mere four years since our nation actually ratified the bill. What since? Nothing to speak of. Our government apparently thought that we would all shut up and leave the politicians alone if they just passed the bill and left the ice caps melting, the air smogging up and farmland soaking up poison. “Don’t worry,” they said to each other. “We’ll sign the thing and they’ll leave us in peace. They only want to cause a fuss. It doesn’t matter if we stick to our word. It’s not as if there was ever a plan in place to actually meet Kyoto targets, anyway.”
So here we are in 2006, and we’ve made less than no progress in cleaning up the country in the name of the biggest environmental legislation ever put forth by the world. It’s not only a phenomenal outrage, but it’s incredibly embarrassing. Canada, recent host of the Montreal Climate Summit, has done nothing to combat climate change. Well done, everyone.
Paul Martin didn’t implement a plan. Thankfully, we collectively voted him out of office. His replacement is sure to be an intelligent, resourceful individual. So, what has Mr. Harper done to rectify the misuse of his predecessor’s office? I can sum it up in one word. Any guesses? To date, the most comprehensive plans for meeting Canada’s Kyoto responsibilities have come from the New Democrats, a party not actually in power. Superficially speaking, this does seem like a bit of a problem. But hang on a second here. Is a Party label actually stopping the Conservatives from graciously adopting an intelligent environment plan (indeed the only plan)? Surely, Harper can suck it up and accept an NDP policy simply to move ahead and actually accomplish something? Is that so hard?
I don’t think I’m the only one who is feeling ignored over the whole issue, so whoever comes up with an idea to stop detrimental climate change, I say have a good hard look at it. Will somebody please just do something?
