Friday, February 27, 2009

Close Your Eyes and Think of England

Mike Ignatieff has enshrined the Athabasca Tar Sands as the glue that holds our cherished country together. Iggy told an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce lunch crowd that the TAR Sands are a national unity issue.

From the Conservative Television Network:

"The oilsands are an integral part of the future of Canada," he said. "No other country in the word would toss away this advantage."

Iggy said he supports hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions so long as they're not hard enough to bother Big Oil churning up the Athabasca basin.

...he said that the federal government must negotiate any cap-and-trade system with the oil industry.

"We will be watching in Opposition to make sure (a cap-and-trade system) won't hurt Alberta," he said. "We need to work with the industry, and not against the industry."

Good one, Iggy. All those folks in the Oil Patch are terrified the Conservatives are going to hurt Alberta. C'mon, who writes this guy's jokes?

So, there we have it. Michael Ignatieff is all in favour of hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions so long as they don't really inconvenience anyone such as major emitters.

At least Jean Chretien talked out of just one side of his mouth.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090227/iggy_oilsands_090227/20090227?hub=TopStories

6 comments:

Chrystal Ocean said...

Tired of the same old song? Want your ideology dressed up in a snazzy new package? Introducing... (drum roll) ... His Igginess, the new champion of Canada's neocons and moneyed elite!

The Mound of Sound said...

It's getting demoralizing. He always skirts around the greenhouse gas issue and never gets anywhere close to acknowledging all the other environmental dangers associated with bitumen mining and processing. He can't or won't prescribe any clean up targets much less a timeline. Absent any specifics of environmental remediation, it's all so much lipflap. Meaningless, insincere.

Steve V said...

"He can't or won't prescribe any clean up targets much less a timeline."

Mound, to be fair, I don't expect this yet from a guy who's been on the job two months. I suspect we won't see a full policy until the election, which is standard practice.

Beijing York said...

Have you heard Ignatieff be specific on any issue (other than his previous forays into foreign policy that were disastrous - Iraq, torture, pre-emptive war)? The guy has failed to deliver any substantive statement with respect to domestic issues that face Canadians. It's like the LPC strategy is to avoid defining him and let people assume he is carrying the Liberal "brand".

Greg Fingas said...

Steve: You might note that if Ignatieff is taken at face value, he won't be able to unveil a policy until the oil industry agrees to hard caps (note the plan to "negotiate" rather than "consult"). To which one can only answer, good luck with that.

The Mound of Sound said...

Steve, I understand your point. I wish Mr. Ignatieff did also. He's taking a lot of positions that are devoid of the slightest nuance. He's shoving the party into spots and corners in a way that no interim leader has a right to. I think the guy is showing us he's anything but ready for prime time. He's impulsive, tempermental and arrogant.