Prime Minister Tar Sands Never Fails To Shame Canada On World Stage

A Brief Comment from Doug Draper

The Canada I grew up in and was once so proud of had a world-wide reputation as a peacemaker, a beacon for common good services like education, seniors’ services and health care, and a leader on environmental protection.

Stephen Harper, Canada’s Tar Sands Prime Minister, places the dirty oil of his coporate masters over a more carbon free, greener energy future – a plan many economic analysts and energy experts belive will leave Canada behind almost every other developed country, including the United States, Germany and China, that is forging a path to a healthier, more sustainable energy future.

Indeed, during the many years I was a fulltime reporter on environmental issues in the 1980s and 90s, Canada had rules and regulations, and state of the art research and monitoring programs for environmental protection that were looked upon as models for other nations around the world.

But no more. 

In Stephen Harper’s Canada, almost anything to do with environmental protection has been burned in the ovens and Environment Canada s scientists have been muzzled to a point where, unless they get special permission from Prime Minister Tar Sand’s office, they cannot publicly discuss any of their research findings – research, by the way, that we, the taxpayers of Canada, paid for.

The sad fact is that Environment Canada and related agencies like the federal department of Oceans and Fisheries, and Natural Resources have been so hollowed out under Prime Minister Tar Sands and his corporate masters in the oil industry that it would hardly matter if those federal bodies, at this point, were abolished.

Now we have Prime Minister Tar Sands heading off to meetings in Europe this June 5^th to attend a G7 summit. The majority of nations in the G7, including the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany and France, are prepared to sign an agreement to move toward a “decarbonized economy” going into the middle of this century, which means moving completely away from carbon fuels like oil, gas and coal.

But Prime Minister Tar Sands and his government – puppets like MPP Rick Dykstra and MPP Rob Nicholson included – have already sent out signals that they won’t sign on to this.

That news comes this June 5^th on the same day The Globe and Mail newspaper ran a headline reading; “UN Panel Calls Canada A Climate Laggard,” meaning that we are falling behind some second and third world nations, at this point, in addressing carbon emissions contributing to a climate breakdown growing numbers of world-class scientists and other leaders poses one of the greatest threat to our survival in the 21^st century.

How much more of Prime Minister Tar Sands and his shameful lack of leadership on the world stage are we Canadians prepared to put up with?

There is a federal election in Canada this coming October. Let’s hope a majority of Canadians vote in the interest of getting the best of what Canada can be on the world stage back, and giving this prime minister and his MPs, who pose such a danger to our future security around addressing climate-related catastrophes, a total boot out of power! 

(Niagara At Large now invites you who dare to share your first and last name – – in other words, no phoney names allowed here – to also share your views on this issue in the space below.)