I'm With Harper, There Are No Quick Fixes

Little Stevie says there are no overnight fixes for global warming. Right on, Stevie. Now he supposedly wants to get serious but not so serious that he presents an effective plan before the next election. There are no quick fixes but that doesn't mean there is any excuse for not getting on with it.

No, Harper has Baird running interference while he finds out if he can negotiate the date price with that harlot, Layton. Steve knows Layton can be had if the price is right and, these days, he's giving out bargain rates.

Layton doesn't fear Stephen nearly as much as he does Stephane. It's been Dion who has already cut into the NDP support and that gives Jackie a lot of incentive to hop in the back seat with Harper until he can figure out a way to improve his own fortunes. But I digress.

Taking a partisan approach on the global warming front is to doom it to failure. With a five party system, frequent elections and minority governments may be a common occurrence. We can't switch policies on this issue with every change of government or else we'll just keep setting ourselves back.

If Harper's serious about this, let's get this hot potato out of the hands of Baird and into the hands of experts who can map out a generational response. There is no shortage of this sort of talent available today at the environment ministry and in our universities. Mobilize that talent in the way that we would in a time of war. Moanin' Rona was in the job for eight months without ever asking for a global warming briefing from her staff. She should have been consigned to the backbenches for that indifference.

There will always be a political dimension to this effort but it absolutely must be minimized if we're to make any serious headway. This is an issue of sufficient importance that it requires parliamentary unity.

The federal government has to deal forcefully with the provinces on this and the premiers all have somewhat different interests. To get genuinely meaningful and effective co-operation from the provinces, and without that this whole effort is seriously undermined, Ottawa must speak with one voice so the premiers know that the federal imperative won't change from one government to the next.

Are our party leaders big enough to let Canada's interests override their own? We won't know unless they're confronted with the challenge. Harper likes the Bush approach of trying to manipulate everything into a wedge issue and, despite his grand words, he's not shown any genuine interest in compromising with the opposition. Unless he gets rid of that attitude, and quickly, we need to get him out of office as fast as possible.