When Canadian environmentalist and scientist David Suzuki released his autobiography in 2006, he had this to say about the federal government’s climate change plan under Prime Minister Stephen Harper:
“Harper claims that he’s going to develop his own plan,” Suzuki said. “The thing that’s really outrageous is he has no plan. We’ve got this from Ambrose’s assistant now. We were talking to him, ‘Are you doing this? Considering a carbon tax?’ ‘Nothing yet, we’re open to everything.’ In other words, they don’t have a fucking clue. I think it’s outrageous that he’s coming in, gutting Kyoto, and he’s acting like he’s going to substitute something and he doesn’t have an idea.”
And four years and many more millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere later, and it seems that Suzuki was right on with his assessment of this government’s understanding of the issue of climate change. Just last week Harper, who is under increasing pressure internationally to put climate change on the agenda of the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings, indicated that the economy is the most important issue to consider, and anything else is “noise”. Harper and his Environment Minister Jim Prentice have indicated their plan to address climate change is to wait until the U.S. has a plan, and then follow that. And this is called leadership!!? In fact, Prentice recently dismissed the push to reduce greenhouse gases as “utterly pointless”.
Suzuki also commented on the understanding shown by federal Conservatives on this issue during his interview with Straight.com:
“The thing that just terrifies me is trying to imagine George Bush or Ralph Klein or Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day, or [Nova Scotia MP] Peter MacKay trying to really understand what exactly is global warming. Or what is a stem cell. If you can’t at least be literate enough to understand the basic principles, then you end up making decisions for purely political reasons. And that’s what’s really terrifying. These guys are still convinced by the skeptics, the people paid for by the fossil-fuel industry, that global warming is bullshit. And they don’t have the ability to judge for themselves.”
The good news in 2010 is that the Harper government continues to be in a minority position. The recent passing of Bill C311, The Climate Accountability Act, was possible because of this. All three opposition parties worked together to get it through the House of Commons. Unfortunately Harper has had the opportunity to appoint over 30 new Conservative Senators to the upper chamber, so the bill will face stiff Conservative opposition as it makes its way through the Senate. Canadians who want a brighter, greener future for our children need to make our voices heard. Click here for contact information and sample emails for letting Senators know they can’t oppose the will of the elected House of Commons on this issue. If you would like to call or email Prime Minister Harper, click here. Click here to find out how to contact Minister Prentice, and let him know that his efforts on climate change so far have been pointless.
Here’s a recent video of David Suzuki talking about the Climate Accountability Act:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGy7at7XJqM&feature=player_embedded]