A Commentary by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
“It’s crazy,” said U.S. President Barack Obama this November 2nd of those who – even in the face of overwhelming consensus among scientists – continue to deny that human activities have anything to do with climate change.
Those were the days in Canada – not so long ago – when Harper brushed aside calls for action on climate change with a smug smile.
Obama used the “crazy” word at a Democratic fundraiser in New York State this November 2nd in reference to climate change deniers – most of them on the Republican Party side – in his own country.
But as the President and many in his party know, and just as embarrassingly, as many others around the world know, there are plenty of crazies on the Canadian side of the border. Most prominent among them is Canada’ going-going-gone prime minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party minions, many who’ve given us every reason to believe that when it comes to the climate file, they’ll be just as out to lunch in opposition as they were when their party governed almost all that was once recognized as world-class environmental leadership out of the country.
Just look at the field of candidates running this November 5th to be the party’s interim leader, including such hyper loyal Harper troopers as Niagara Falls MP and outgoing cabinet minister Rob Nicholson, Rona Ambrose, who was bad enough in her most current role as Canada’s health minister and even worse a decade ago as Harper’s environment minister, working to gut what were once some of the best environmental protection programs in the world.
At last count, there are eight surviving members of Harper’s Conservative caucus running for the interim leader job – all of them so steeped in Harperthink that this party could remain out to lunch and out of step with a growing number of nations on issues like climate change and energy for many more years to come.
Which brings me back to Obama at that Democratic Party fundraiser, offering an explanation of what he means by out-to-lunch craziness in the face of up to 99 out of every 100 scientists in the climate field now convinced that far more needs to be done by the nations of the world to reduce carbon emissions.
“If you go to 100 doctors,” he said, “and 99 of them tell you have diabetes and you’ve got to stop eating so much bacon and donuts, you wouldn’t say, ‘Ah, that’s a conspiracy. All 99 doctors got together with Obama to keep me from having bacon and donuts.’ You wouldn’t do that. …That’s crazy.”
Crazy, indeed!
So let’s hope Canada’s new government doesn’t take any of this kind of craziness to the international climate summit in Paris this December.
This summit may be Canada’s last best chance in years to become part of the solution and win back some respect from the rest of the global community on this most pressing of environmental challenges facing us in the 21st Century.
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