Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's Green Shift plan for the environment has stirred up much controversy in recent months, not the least of which are the West's concerns about the plan's impact on the region's natural resources.
Some fear a repeat of the dark days of the national energy program, and others are raising the spectre of yet another national unity crisis...
Lougheed, the grandfather of Alberta conservatism, the man who brought the Conservatives to power in the first place, has stressed the need for an "olive branch" to the rest of Canada -- if the federal Conservatives aren't going to do anything about pollution, then doesn't it make more sense to try and cooperate with Dion and the Liberals if they actually are trying to find a solution, and make it stronger and better with our own input, rather than simply refusing to speak to him because of his party affiliation?...
Prominent Liberals and Conservatives like Dion and Lougheed are discussing many of the same issues -- if anything, the East and West probably have more common ground than they realize.
From there, a competent federal government can act as mediator between the provinces, developing a pan-Canadian environmental strategy that combines policies that apply to Canada as a whole in with variations that take provincial differences into account.
Whether or not the Green Shift is the solution to Canada's environmental woes, at least it's a start.
What I find refreshing, a Canadian perspective, as opposed to the silly "us vs them" nonsense which tends to derail any rational discussion. Pointing a finger at Ontario, but also recognizing some simple realities, a sense that we are in this together, our common interests. A discussion without bad guys, injecting alterior motives that don't exist, this entire debate is really a struggle between the small and narrow, and those that wish to move forward in good faith. Let's hope viewpoints like the above can be heard above the cynical noise. "At least it's a start".
7 comments:
Perfect, this is exactly what we should see more often from the media. I understand there will be article's portraying different arguments but lets have some balance. Kudos to the Jared Milne and the Edmonton Journal for giving us some real journalism by investigating the other side of the argument or the different point of view. Again, good blog Steve, you probably won't get many C.R.A.P. trolls slamming this one.
I just mailed a short letter to the editor saying how pleased I was with Jared Milne's column and his recognition that we are all going to be affected by environmental issues and climate change whatever our political stripe. Don't know if it will be printed but I thought he deserved kudos for a thoughtful article
frankly canadian,
Sorry to hear about your negativity rash flaring up like that. Go see a doctor, rest and plenty of fluids should clear that up.
Steve,
I agree that this is a good thing. Let's see whether there is truly an opportunity for rapport or whether it is just a wish.
Tomm
in an Edmonton paper no less
*throws up hands*
Okay, seriously, right up there toward the top of my wish list for the Canadian blogosphere is for Ontario bloggers to stop acting like the Edmonton Journal is anything but a Liberal paper, through and through. Because it is, to the extent that the Alberta Liberals' current director of communications was hired directly away from his position as an editor at the Journal.
Note: this is not to take away from the substance of the article--it's a good article. I'm just saying that a piece like that in the Edmonton Journal is nothing at all special (and that it would be awfully nice if Ontario bloggers would learn a bit more about my fair city before trying to score cheap points by referring to it).
"that it would be awfully nice if Ontario bloggers would learn a bit more about my fair city before trying to score cheap points by referring to it)."
IP please with the Ontario bloggers nonsense. I've lived out west on two separate occasions, so stop with the unfounded assumptions. It seems you're the one with the regional bias here.
All right, it's certainly an overgeneralization to say that Ontario bloggers in general tend to do this, and I apologize for that implication. But when it does happen, it does inevitably seems to be Ontario bloggers who do it. I'm talking about the exact same wording appearing in Scott Tribe's blog and James Bow's a little while back (one acknowledged the error, the other dug his heels in further, and I'll leave it up to the reader to guess which was which).
In any case, Ontario blogger or not, it's incorrect to imply that it's unusual for one of the most Liberal-dominated papers in the country to publish something in favour of a Liberal policy, so it would seem that some reexamination of your opinions of that paper are in order.
ip
It was more the column, and I just threw in the location, because its pretty hard to find any good press coming out of the prairie provinces. I check out the Journal a fair bit, this point of view stuck out for me, sort of the way I see it.
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