So reads the headline in the National Post, a virtual house organ of the Reform Conservatives. A fresh shot? Did they have a stale shot?
Scribe John Ivison claims the story of the year for 2006 was the "mutation" of global warming from a nagging fear to, "a much more urgent fear that our way of life is under threat unless drastic action is taken." Either way, Ivison seems to have the issue pegged as just a fear, albeit an urgent one.
According to the Post, "Stephen Harper made a tacit admission that he misjudged how big a factor climate change was going to become in people's voting intentions." So, it appears that Little Stevie sees global warming, not so much as a threat to our very future, but as a threat to his numbers in the next election. Gee, who could have imagined?
As proof that Harper now 'gets it', Ivison points to his choice for our new Enviromin, "Treasury Board president John Baird, a man who has already proven to the Prime Minister's satisfaction that he has the right stuff to handle the most sensitive file on the government's agenda." Did I read that right? "Baird" and "sensitive" in the same sentence?
Of course Ivison's take, in the very latest right-wing hack style out of the states, is to blame the people for Harper's failure on this issue: "As proof that the average voter has the institutional memory of a fruit fly, polls suggest the public has accepted the Liberal contention that the Conservatives are climate change deniers who will only be convinced that there is a problem when they are forced to travel to work on Parliament Hill by boat." It's us damned pinheads, we're the problem here, right?
Senior hack Ivison just can't hold Harper's charade together. He let this cat slip out of the bag about the qualities that Baird offers Harp as Enviromin: "It is asking a lot of Mr. Baird to change those perceptions, although he is better equipped than Ms. Ambrose to turn defence into attack on the floor of the House of Commons."
So what are the lessons, or lesions, to be gleaned from the National Post? Global warming (or "climate change" to use the phrase favoured by deniers) is really still just a fear, even if an urgent fear. Harper sees global warming primarily as a Tory electoral vulnerability. Canadians are just too damned stupid to understand Stevie's plan anyway and Bully Baird was picked to handle this "sensitive" matter because he's the guy "to turn defence into attack on the floor of the House of Commons."
Want to know what I think about Ivison? I believe he's got Harper's take on global warming down pat. Of course Harper's own idol has spent six years spinning lies and distortions to delude his nation so why shouldn't the Tories do the same on global warming?
2 comments:
You Liberals have no credibility on the environment.
Despite the spin that your Star, CBC and Globe throw at Canadians about Harper and his alleged distaste for the environment, it should be noted that Harper has adopted a policy from the United States (a country that reduced its emissions while Canada's went up during the Liberals), and has adapted it to Canadian needs.
You Liberals talk the talk, but why is it that your current party leader did nothing as environment minister to reduce greenhouse gas and carbon emissions from rising!? Was naming his dog Kyoto supposed to help or was that just another Liberal show?
Odd that Harpie isn't even trying to "stay the course" with his made-in-America plan. It's anything but what you're making it out to be. As for our growing GHG problem. A big part of that is our becoming America's gas tank. Bringing tar sands pollution on line is a big setback. But you Tories know all about that. Look, we don't have time to waste at pointing fingers. This thing has to be dealt with now and Mr. "so-called greenhouse gases" Little Stevie's attitude and actions reveal that he doesn't get that.
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