"Let's be very clear about this Mike. We have said all along that we support the objectives of Kyoto. We ran on that in the last election and part of our election campaign."
Surprisingly, Hill's head didn't spin off his shoulders. I could pull out a million quotes, but this synopsis is a good reminder of the Conservatives pro-Kyoto "campaign". Even more surprising than Hill's quote, the fact the other Whips present didn't erupt in uncontrollable laughter as the audacity left his forked tongue.
Now Baird, and you see a common theme emerge:
Environment Minister John Baird denies telling environmentalists that the proposed Clean Air Act is dead...
Mr. Baird seemed to suggest he objects to the revised bill because it's not compliant with the Kyoto Protocol, a surprising tack given his own rejection of the Kyoto targets.
“Mr. Dion has put forward with a plan that is nothing short than an unlimited licence to pollute,” Mr. Baird said.
“This carbon budget proposal that they tried to put in the bill isn't compliant with Kyoto. And it's an unlimited licence to pollute.”
The Liberal amendments don't help the Kyoto cause, and therefore Baird can't support the revised bill. For the love of.... Clearly, without doubt, the Tories are changing gears, trying to cling to the notion of Kyoto, hoping no one really pays attention. I am willing to bet that the Conservative brain trust has concluded that Kyoto is a winnable term, and we are witnessing a concerted effort to embrace the concept, superficially.
Mr. Baird lied:
John Bennett of the lobby group Climate for Change said Mr. Baird told environmentalists at a meeting Friday he had no intention of bringing the bill forward for a vote. “He's trying to spin what he said, but I heard it very clearly.”
Louise Comeau, executive director of the Sage Centre, who also attended the meeting, gave the same account of Mr. Baird's comments. “It was depressing,” she said.
Why doesn't someone call Baird on this naked contradiction? Mr. Baird, are you saying respected members of the environmental community are liars or just deaf?
The best part, Thursday looks like the big day for the Tory plan. The amount of spin and disinformation that looms almost scares me, given the preamble.
10 comments:
Steve,
The Carbon Budget DOES comply with Kyoto. I just recently wrote a paper for one of my environmental courses based on it. The Plan is enthusiastically supported by the Pembina Institute, along with the Climate Action Network, which represents 40 top environmental organizations including the David Suzuki Foundation and the Sierra Club of Canada.
The fact is, the Cons are STILL trying to undermine Dion's environmental credibility, yet the CONS have ZERO credibility on the environment, and cannot be taken for their word.
The Carbon Budget sets an absolute cap for Large Industrial Emitters in Canada (roughly 700 in total). The Cap is set at 1990 emissions levels minus 6%, which is our Kyoto target. Financial penalities are attached to the Cap if companies due not reduce their emissions. The funds generated by the financial penalties can be recalimed by companies, so long as they are used for projects that can demonstrably reduce emissions. Otherwise, 100% of the funds will be invested in green energy (and other projects that reduce emissions) in the province where the funds came from.
The FUCKING CONS HAVE ZERO CREDIBILITY ON ALMOST EVERY SUBJECT THEY TOUCH. THEY ARE A PR MACHINE, AND NOTHING MORE.
"The Carbon Budget DOES comply with Kyoto"
Hence the title :)
John Baird’s astonishing confusion about the Clean Air and Climate Change Act (he now rejects it because it doesn’t comply with Kyoto?!) shows how cowardly the Conservatives are. At the do or die December/05 United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Montreal, Stephane Dion faced down the Americans, the Chinese, and the Saudis to get an agreement among 182 countries. They said he couldn’t do it but he refused to give up. Contrast that with tough guy John Baird who can’t even stare down Alberta oil interests. Baird won’t be able to make a coherent statement on global warming and Canada’s duty to lead on this issue until he decides who his master is: Alberta oil barons, Stephen Harper, or the Canadian people.
Wow, the Conservatives not telling the truth when it comes to environmental issues. What a startling development.
The problem for them is Canadians generally support the Kyoto Protocol and they want Canada to try to meets its Kyoto commitments.
Unfortunately, the Conservatives do not like it so they are on the wrong side of the issue. They just tried to discredit the protocol but they are such ham-fisted little monkeys on the environment file that their attempt went over like a dirty diaper.
So now, like you say Steve, they have to change gears by saying they support it while claiming the Liberals do not.
Such strategy is premised on the notion Canadians are stupid and they do not pay attention. Hell, the whole Conservative mindset is based on that premise. While the second part of the premise is true to a certain extent any politician that pursues a strategy counting on the first part is playing with fire and it is only a matter of time before they get burned.
Anonymous, Mr. Harper's 'cred' is lower than Mr. Dion's when it comes to the environment. Both the original Clean Air Act and the recent Kyoto costing report were met with hoots of derision, including from many allies of the Conservatives.
So I would not be going around making too many comments about Mr. Dion's credibility on the environment.
As well, when the election rolls around and the environment turns out to be a key issue in it I will place my bets on Mr. Dion's 'cred' before I place it on that of Mr. Harper's and Mr. Baird's.
Black is white, up is down, in is out...
That is what we are faced with. That is supported by the clever sound bites, that the media covers.
I'm livid about this, livid about the situation in Afghanistan, (which I'll write about), we are turning into the US of A, in that we are just not paying attention to the truth and eating up what this gov't is saying.
How the hell did this happen?
Maybe this will break the mold. Maybe this will tell the truth. Maybe not.
I did say that the con's would come forward with junk, painted with lies, (a pig with lipstick), and try to make it sell.
Please media, think!
Thanks for this post. I heard Baird's PA claim (on CPAC's Prime Time Politics podcast) that Dion's plan doesn't comply with Kyoto and wondered what the heck he was on about. I think you're right - they're just plain lying.
"Such strategy is premised on the notion Canadians are stupid and they do not pay attention."
Maybe the Kyoto embrace has something to do with what Suzuki alluded to. Suzuki was discussing his cross-country tour and he said that Canadians supported Kyoto, which wasn't particularly surprising. Suzuki also said, that while people support it, they aren't engaged enough to know all the tenets and nuances. That fact might explain why the Conservatives think they can use the Kyoto lingo, hoping the term will give them credibility. For Hill to actually say the Conservatives ran on Kyoto tells me they have made a calculation. In fact, I see the entire Conservative approach based on one premise, the indifference of the voter. The last thing the Tories want is an engaged electorate.
knb said...
"Black is white, up is down, in is out...
That is what we are faced with. That is supported by the clever sound bites, that the media covers.
I'm livid about this, livid about the situation in Afghanistan, (which I'll write about), we are turning into the US of A, in that we are just not paying attention to the truth and eating up what this gov't is saying.
How the hell did this happen?" 9:33 PM, April 23, 2007
Harper came to power, that's how it happened. I said from the outset even with as weak a minority as he had he could do serious damage to us (Canada) in a short period of time across the board; this is exactly the sort of thing I was referring to. He doesn't have to have a majority to do enough damage that we may not be able to recover from it given the power of appointments within the PMO itself regardless of whether it is a majority or minority government. Now to mention the power to change regulations.
This is something that has always gotten under my skin. The CPC strategy is the same as the GOP, talk in sound bites that sound good, always be on the attack, and never worry about prior statements once they become "inoperative" to the current needs. It is premised on not just the indifference of the average voter but the downright ignorance of them, and this is where I think the CPC has been too cute by half for its own good. I still have faith that most voters in this country actually pay more attention than given credit for, and when I combine that with how well wired we are as a society and what that provides in terms of researching past views/statements in context makes this a very dangerous strategy indeed.
They got away with the stealth approach last time in part because of no prior record as discussed here before with Steve V, but also in part because no one was really examining them so long as they didn’t make a media gaffe. This was because it was clear the Libs were the underdogs going in and then the horrid campaign they ran just enhanced that. This time out they are the ones with the record of governing since the last election so they can't simply say the Libs are bad we are better or that it is because it is Libs fault like they have for pretty much all of their time in office to date. They are also going to have to face a public that is not going to be sold so easily on the "clean cut Conservative government" spin that was so heavily employed last time out either. So insulting the intelligence of the voters is probably a very bad idea, especially over the long term which has been Harper's CPC trademark since birth.
As to the conversion of Harper and his party from being leading Kyoto opponents to suddenly being Kyoto boosters, well I think that is going to be a harder sell than they think. Harper was only the political leader in this country most involved in blocking/fighting/stopping it, the claim that it would bankrupt the economy is the same as he was making ten years ago with as much hard evidence supporting that claim as presented last week, and there are more than enough independent environmental web sites to find this stuff out on out of the CPC's control to trash as too partisan to be trusted (well at least outside of their base, inside the base we know they are very prone to groupthink and programming by their leaders alas). Not to mention the simple memory of it as well.
Steve V:
"We have said all along that we support the objectives of Kyoto. We ran on that in the last election and part of our election campaign." No one called him on that blatantly bullshit comment?!? Damn! Even for Baird that is chutzpah beyond belief, this when given his record is no small thing. I agree that at this point either they are liars or they are willfully ignorant or they are incredibly and utterly incompetent and unfit for any political office let alone running the federal government. There can be no other explanation, and none of these are positive ones and all of them are I should think good reasons to dismiss a government displaying such regardless of their political flavour.
P.S. Did you catch the correction a couple threads back from me about the NDP supposedly being the only party to never support the CPC on a confidence vote being wrong? It would seem the NDPers have forgotten that last spring all opposition parties including the NDP voted for the budget on third reading. I raise this here because I have seen this piece of NDP rhetoric from several different partisans within the past week, and seeing as it is factually incorrect I thought it might be wise to remind others of this fact. Hope you don’t mind.
From what I listen to,-- a great many heeding the Conservatives, I am beginning to think those people are stupid. They believe every word Harper and gang utter..would you call those intelligent? The Globe & Mail is full to the top with Cons writing. I do not think they really know too much.
scotian
I did read the revision of the NDP voting history. Layton first starting that line, when people questioned him cozying up to Harper. It's actually a great line to make it appear like the NDP are still fighting the good fight, even if it is weak at best, and not particularly true, as you pointed out :)
annie
The G and M comment section is a wingnut paradise, it's really hard to stomach and it's rarely intelligent, just parroting.
Post a Comment