The recurring nightmare that is John Baird

Maybe Taseko will open that gold mine after all.

It's not like we actually have an Environmental Minister.

And another one's gone

So Prentice is leaving.  There has been some speculation that he is clearing his path to run for CPC leadership.  Maybe, but I doubt it.  He would be inheriting a very fragmented party that has been held together only through Harper's bullying and battering.  Without following similar vicious top hyena tactics, whoever leads that party would be eaten by his own.  With a touch of Tea Party infecting some of the wackier members as well as voter base, any leader would have to take on not only keeping the nut job voters happy, but appeasing the MPs who constantly push for very unpopular legislation.

I don't think Prentice has that in him, and I doubt he has enough support in his own party since he hasn't shown much of that fundamentalism that keeps the extremists in the party believing if they bide their time and get a majority, all their atavistic dreams will come true.

I think it's more likely that Prentice knows there is no upside to staying in the CPC and enough downsides having to deal with Harper that he would do far better career-wise in the private sector where he can apply his skills with less restraint.  Spouting blatant lies and nonsense has to take its toll on someone who has any sense of self, and Prentice does seem to have more character than many of the other Harperites.

He probably wants to go out before the party crashes and burns because when it does, it won't be pretty.  By leaving now, while the CONs are still in power, he is more marketable to banks and big business than he would be later, but even then, his contacts would remain valuable.

I think this is a case of jumping a ship that is showing interior signs of decay so severe that the ship will have to be re-built but the workers won't agree to a design.  Jay Hill  may have been another who sees the end coming and is tired of compromising his own image for a hopeless cause.

The CONs have presented themselves almost to the man and woman as a bunch of brown-nosers who will do anything the master strategist demands, even to playing the fool to keep Harper's feet out of the filth, but they must recognize that life goes on after Harper Land and with that end looking like it may be coming soon, they are thinking of what they want their personal lives to be like.

I could be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more of the smater ones take a bow over the next few months.

Like I said, after the photo op is done...

...the promise becomes no more than a caption.

 (photo)
It was hailed just four months ago by Environment Minister Jim Prentice as one of Canada's "richest ecological areas" when he announced a landmark $5-million study aimed at declaring it a National Marine Conservation Area.  But while one branch of the federal government has moved to protect Nunavut's Lancaster Sound as a one-of-a-kind natural treasure — "an area of incredible beauty that is teeming with wildlife," according the region's Conservative MP Leona Aglukkaq — the Geological Survey of Canada has confounded environmentalists and local communities by planning a seismic seabed survey this summer to probe for potential oil and gas deposits in the beluga and narwhal-rich waters north of Baffin Island, at the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage.

While proudly announcing their intentions to declare Lancaster Sound a national marine conservation area (and including token Inuit in their promotional photo ops),  Prentice and Aglukkaq stated consultations would be held on an ongoing basis with the Inuit concerning the area.  What do the Inuit have to say about this latest bit of use-it-or-lose-it news?

"The legislation is very clear with respect to marine conservation areas: Oil and gas development is expressly prohibited," said Chris Debicki, Iqaluit-based director of the eco-advocacy group Oceans North. "They just don't go together."

He told Canwest News Service on Wednesday that the proposed resource survey conflicts not only with Parks Canada's high-profile push for a Lancaster Sound protected zone but also with the traditional use of the area by Inuit hunters, who have raised concerns through the Nunavut review agency about the potential impact of the Arctic Ocean survey — and any resource development that could follow — on caribou herds and marine mammals.

The Inuit may be the original inhabitants of the area.  They may offer terrific photo ops.  Their traditional outfits looked super cool at the Olympics.  But really, does Harper intend to consider their needs or listen to their wishes when it comes to the Arctic?

Not likely, considering they were not even invited to the recent Arctic Council meeting.

(photo)
"As global climate change continues and traffic through the Northwest Passage is expected to increase, our government is committed to safeguarding Canada's Arctic and protecting its most special natural features," Prentice said at the time (of announcing the marine sanctuary). "The Government of Canada recognizes the increasing importance of understanding and protecting the Arctic and this project will allow us to significantly advance our knowledge as well as our protection and conservation activities in this area."

Really?

The Harper government is rewriting the rules of environmental assessments, handing the Environment Ministry the power to minimize reviews of projects from open-pit mines to municipal construction along with other changes that critics claim will “gut” the environmental review process...Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act will ensure “that we get good environmental outcomes” while “not delaying and frustrating projects through unnecessary red tape.”

The measures...would give the Minister of the Environment the power to determine the scope of any assessment.

That would be this Minister:

Canada's leading environmentalists say they're losing interest in lobbying federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice because the government has locked itself into an environmental policy "bunker" and is not giving their ideas serious consideration.  Meanwhile, according to the Registry of Lobbyists, representatives for big oil companies frequently lobby the minister, and appear to be a major source of policy advice on energy and climate issues.

...Some say energy interests have an inordinate influence on Canada's national policy, something which is symptomatic of a deeper "corruption" in Canada. Among them is Thomas Homer-Dixon, who holds the Centre for International Governance Innovation Chair of Global Systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario.

In a December interview, Mr. Dixon asserted that "our political processes in Canada are being corrupted by narrow energy interests."

And in what direction are those narrow interests leading Harper?

"A strong and sovereign Arctic must be a healthy and prosperous Arctic. In the weeks and months that lie ahead, our government will continue to introduce measures aimed at unleashing the North's true potential," said the prime minister.

A recent post at Far and Wide talks about how the Liberals should approach the CONs undermining of environmental protection:

Unlike Carbon Emissions /Climate Change, the environmental concerns here are pretty cut and dry – very easy for the media and public to understand the issues at stake. The Reformatories would be on the defensive to explain why they put this into the budget, and why they feel it’s necessary to pollute our lakes and streams for generations to come for dubious short-term economic gain.

The Libs should put out a few trial balloons and see where it goes – have a few MPs talk to the media-types about this little nugget buried in the budget. Then if all goes well make the threat that you’ll vote against the budget unless this legislation is specifically removed. It would be interesting to see how Harper & Co. will try to defend overriding provincial jurisdiction to pollute lakes and poison indigenous communities - while saying this issue somehow proves that Iggy is just in it for himself.

As entertaining as the Guergis-Jaffer train wreck is to watch, and while they should be investigated if there appears to be corruption, opposition parties, and the Liberals in particular need to show Canadians that we can do better.  That is not accomplished by lowering the opponent, but by elevating themselves.  Fighting for protection of our environment is a good platform to speak from as it affects not just voters today, but future generations.  Harper doesn’t care if he kills the golden goose because his narrow vision is also very, very short term.

You know there’s a catch when a CON asks for your opinion.

Jimbo Prentice wants to know what Canadians think of his proposed environmental policy.  So far, the response from critics has been less than kind.

The website allows feedback and the deadline for submitting comments is July 12, 2010. The consultation comes as the government’s environmental policy has taken a sustained attack in the wake of the federal budget.

So why ask us for more feedback, especially when this government seems to be very selective of what comments it pads its findings with?

More than one person with an interest in the environmental file has pointed out that the Federal Sustainable Development Act requires the government to develop a Federal Sustainable Development Strategy by June 26, 2010. There is a legally-required 120-day consultation period written into the Act.

So, says one of them, “all Mr. Prentice is doing is obeying the law and holding a consultation - late. His government forced him to break the law and miss the deadline when they prorogued Parliament, though, so the comment period closes more than two weeks after the final strategy is required to be completed.”

Oh...a CON broke the law...I see...

I'm sure it's because Canadians don't care, right?

With the environment near the top of the public agenda this year, Prentice's door swung open the widest for lobbyists, with 136 face-to-face or telephone contacts reported in the year, the data show.

Isn’t that nice?  Harper’s government not only realizing that the environment is near the top of the public agenda, but our very own environment minister meeting with lobbyist as a result.

Let’s see how what Harper, through Prentice has in mind for our environmental future.

Of these contacts, the majority -- 81 of 136 -- were with lobbyists representing oil, gas or other energy companies, including EnCana, Suncor, Shell Canada and ConocoPhillips. Prentice met to discuss energy issues with Imperial Oil on 14 occasions, more than any other company or organization.

Over half of the meetings were with companies lobbying to develop more energy sources harmful to the environment?  Not good.  But let’s be fair and look at how many environmental lobbyist groups our, you know, environmental Minister met with.

In the same period, he took just two meetings with environmental group the David Suzuki Foundation and another two with the Pembina Institute.

Steve Harper: once more ignoring what Canadians really care about.

It isn’t like there’s no pressing work to do...

As Harper & Co. Stay the course they have set with their first prorogation, governing by not governing, serious work is set aside.  The stimulus plan-with-no-plan does not exist in a vacuum, and several stakeholders need to work in tandem to make sure that the funds are not only used in a way they can best benefit our economy, but that other factors are examined closely so that damaging effects can be avoided.

(Pic adapted from)

More than 90 per cent of thousands of new projects receiving funding from the Harper government will proceed without a federal environmental assessment, Canwest News Service reported in November.

Why?

According to our dictatorship, those pesky environmental assessments would slow down projects and threaten economic recovery. 

Sort of like taking a couple of months off to go to the Owelympics would slow down governing an entire country.

This avoidance of making sure projects don’t endager the health and safety of Canadians is not a mere delay, however.  The very panel that the CONs created to advise them on such environmental impacts has been ignored for nearly two years.  In fact, the committee has not even met since the spring of 2008.

Throughout this time, sweeping changes to regulations have been passed, effectively exempting thousands of projects from mandatory evaluations.   "We haven't had any notice that the minister has dissolved the committee, but it's kind of awkward to have a committee that doesn't meet," said Gary Schneider, who sits on the panel.

The government, however, managed to introduce exemptions to projects without the consultation of the environmental panel and without going through legislation.

(Schneider) said he was confused about why Environment Minister Jim Prentice has not asked them for advice.   "If you think that you know everything, and you don't need to take advice from the public, just because you got elected . . . I don't think it paints a very good picture of the minister," he said.

I don’t think it’s just a case of Prentice thinking he knows everything, but yet another example of  going through the motions of creating a panel for optics while never intending to take their advice because they know ahead of time that such advice will conflict with their narrow ideology and support of business interests before all else - including the long term future of average Canadians.

A spokeswoman for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency said she could not comment on why the committee has not met since 2008 because it would cost her job. But she suggested that they would be brought together again soon as part of a required review by Parliament in 2010 of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Right - unless the CONs decide that such a review simply is no more necessary than considering the impact projects could have on our health and safety.

Considering the CONs lack of concern over environmental issues and their paranoid fear of reports, I guess that we and our children will just have to deal with the fallout of poorly planned projects offering no environmental protection.

Unless, of course, we join forces, say “enough,” and get rid of those uneducated, incredibly stupid, and undemocratic bastards while we still have the chance.

Talking to the public across Canada for the next few months and holding a thinkers’ meeting in March won’t cut it, nor will placing left-wing colours above common concerns for Canadians do it.  That two-thirds of the population with enough brains to realize how destructive Harper and the Cons are to our democracy and future need to contact members of the opposition and let them know they need to show up and work now.  Fuck prorogation and take back the Hill.

My PM went to Copenhagen and all I got were these lousy photos

Harper's Big Trip to Copenhagen, as reported to us from the PMO site  (you know, what Soudas tells us is how the government keeps us informed since the press is such a dismal failure?)
     

photos


Good job he managed to snag Obama for that quickie.  Sure spent our money well over there.

In fairness, Harper did provide us with this detailed account of the summit (PMO statement, if full):

“This agreement is the result of two weeks of negotiations in which Canada and Environment Minister Prentice, our chief negotiator, played a key part.  And over the past 24 hours, I have met with numerous leaders to reaffirm that Canada remains committed to a comprehensive, post-2012 agreement that is fair and effective.

“All countries must commit to taking concrete action to address climate change as part of a new treaty – actions which are measurable, verifiable and reportable. Canada is working to align our clean energy and climate change policies with those of the Obama Administration.  This approach recognizes the high degree of integration of our two economies.  Canada is prepared to contribute our fair share of financial support, particularly to the poorest and most vulnerable nations.”      (PMO statement released but not yet posted to pmo site)

Yes, yes.  He did bring back several awards: three Fossil of the Day awards, and the prestigious Fossil of the Year award.   but since I didn`t vote for him, don`t support him, and don`t share his war on doing anything to fight or cope with climate change, I gladly hand over any claim I might have to those who do.  Way to go, guys!  Third time in a row!  Earned the name Colossal Fossil for Harper`s government`s ``strategy to sabotage efforts to tackle climate change.``

There was a greater sense of urgency at this summit than at previous ones.  With many people already suffering directly from the impact of climate change, and with leaders less able to hide the inevitable consequences from those they govern, there was the overall sense of trying to co-ordinate people greatly at odds in order to put out a blaze well out of control.  No plan, and those involved fighting over who does the work, and who pays for the tools.  Meanwhile, the flames grow.

The final day showed this sense of anxiety as leaders, recognizing that little headway would be made because they simply weren`t prepared for the vast divergence in interests, knew they couldn`t go home empty handed without risking the displeasure and increase in very real fear from those they are accountable to.  So they come up with mixed messages, empty statements, and ``toothless`` deal that is non-binding. 

But it has no long-term global targets for emissions cuts or a timetable to turn the agreement into a legally-binding treaty.

Another monumental expense for all involved to come up once more with we have to come up with something or we are screwed.

The only way we will ever get any kind of grip on managing the devastations of climate change is for everyone - leaders and every person on the planet who can put pressure on them - to accept the reality that this is a growing global problem which does not wait for politics or protectionism.

We go to sleep wrapping ourselves in the comfort of our flag, secure in the knowledge that our borders are inviolate only to wake up and see that the way we live has destroyed that comfortable dream.  We love fictitious movies where the world pulls together to fight a common enemy like an alien invasion, but when we face the reality of a common threat, we scream and balk at co-operating.

Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism

That diarrhea dispenser Soudas, while in Copenhagen trying to control what Canadians hear, falsely accused Steven Guilbeault, a climate change activist of perpetrating a hoax that embarrassed the Canadian government. When the truth came out, not only did Soudas refuse to apologize to Guilbeault -

Guilbeault said he is also off ended because the Canadian government accused him of being unpatriotic, due to his criticism of its policies. "It's scandalous," said Guilbeault. "It seems like we've lost freedom of speech in Canada."

I’m going to exercise my swiftly eroding right to free speech, now. Anyone who still supports this Harper...regime is either complicit in its corruption, or is a complete fucking idiot.

I’m not saying this of all conservatives, but I am saying it of anyone who supports Steve Harper and his lackeys. If you can sit back and still support that Prop Minister after this comment by Soudas, then not only are you an absolute moron, but you are unpatriotic as well.


No!!!!! We support the TROOPS! you may be screaming. We support our GOVURMENT!!!! Unlike you leftie-commie-pinko-soc’lists who bash 'em!

Well, let’s look at that.

Patriotic: Inspired by patriotism; actuated by love of one's country; zealously and unselfishly devoted to the service of one's country; as, a patriotic statesman, vigilant.

Notice the definition says country, not government. It also includes vigilance as an act of patriotism.

Our democratic system relies on our ability to question, debate, and criticize. That is why there is more than one political party - to represent the differing views, ideologies, and needs of Canadians. So - now listen carefully, I know this is very difficult for some of you - when elected members criticize or question the ruling party, they are helping to make sure that all Canadians have a voice and get to apply the power of that voice in shaping their own country. It is not unpatriotic, it’s their job, their responsibility.

Democracy also relies on individuals’ rights to voice their concerns directly. How else will the government know what they want, and since the government constantly tells us it is working for our welfare, then they need to hear what affects that welfare, and how.

But-but-but- (adscam?)

Hold your tongue and sit down.  I’m not done.

Those of you who say that criticizing the government is unpatriotic, were you unpatriotic when you criticized the Liberals when they were in power, or did you just take a sabbatical from patriotism? See how it works? You love your country, you say, and that’s why you beat on those damn Liberals and Dippers, even when they are in power. And somehow, that’s patriotic. But anyone criticizing Harper and Co. is unpatriotic because he’s in power.

So, you are all fucking idiots.

You are also unpatriotic, because you place a political party above love of country.

You are unpatriotic as well because you are not vigilant: carefully observant or attentive; on the lookout for possible danger; "a policy of open-eyed awareness"

A patriotic person is vigilant, and a vigilant person questions, examines, takes active part in “a policy of open-eyed awareness.”

Many hesitate to question any actions even remotely related to the military, because they fear questioning implies criticism and how can we criticize people who put their lives on the line for their country? I get that. I believe that avoiding questioning in such case is very wrong, but I get it, I understand the unspoken taboo. We are fortunate that our military is a decent enough one, overwhelmingly made up of decent people, I’d say (although there is the odd lying sack of shit) All the more reason to be vigilant, to make sure it is accountable to the country, not to the governing party. There are many examples in history and around the world today of what can happen when a military body serves the government rather than the country and we have only to look at the mess the RCMP finds itself in to understand what happens when we allow agencies to self-regulate and dodge questions from impartial, public panels.

So while I understand why it is difficult for some people to question or criticize anything possibly connected to the military, this accusation by Soudas against Guilbeault is a different beast. Politicians in power do not risk their lives for their country. In fact, they are paid quite well to serve and represent us. That means they should damn well listen to our concerns.

Harper has it backwards, and most of you who follow him do as well. Steve thinks it’s his job to change Canada and Canadians, make them act as he thinks they should, get them to serve who he believes they should serve. A Prime Minister should lead Parliament and make it work for the will of the people. The government should bend to our will, not us to theirs.

A final word on patriotism -
Love of one’s country: we should want it to be healthy. We should want it to function well. We should want it to grow, and to be something we can be proud of. That means paying attention, having the courage to criticize if needed, getting off our lazy butts and learning how our government works, what it’s up to, and whether or not it’s being straight with us.