"Made In Canada"

Have you heard the stunning news? The Conservatives have done little on the climate change file, they won't meet their own modest targets, nor have they even bothered to do any cost analysis. The audit from the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development is blunted by diplomatic niceties, in layman's terms his conclusions are as such: these people don't give a rat's ass about climate change and have no intention of doing squat. One of the great intellectual travesties of recent times occurred during the 2008 election. People will recall that prior to the election call, we were all waiting on the Conservatives long delayed "plan" to deal with climate change. Do you remember "Made in Canada", a counter to Kyoto, the Conservative response to criticism? Do you remember that when the election was called, then Environment Minister John Baird told Canadians that he wouldn't release any plan during an election, for reasons never adequately explained or followed up on. Where this development became particularly outrageous, the Conservatives still somehow managed to savage Stephane Dion and his "carbon tax", even THOUGH there was no policy counter, even though the government offered NOTHING in retort, it was full on offence and nobody seemed to notice the disconnect. A truly absurd moment, the Conservatives buried their own plan that was apparently two years in the making, kept it from Canadians with dubious rationale and YET nobody cared, they were given free reign to attack.

Fast forward THREE AND A HALF YEARS and we still await John Baird's plan, should be any day now. Fact is, there was never a plan, what we had was a deception meant to neutralize the issue for the Conservatives during the election (sound familiar?). Once the election was won, the Conservative plan never did get released and with the climate change issue seemingly "waning" in terms of electoral importance, NOTHING happened. Of note here, I recall NO accountability for this transgression, apparently you can preach to Canadians and the world about a looming plan, then release absolutely nothing and suffer no recourse.

This latest audit is nothing more than confirmation of the bloody obvious.  I suppose the only illumination, this government is so disengaged on the file, they can't even bother to cobble together an analysis of the potential costs, a starting point for any real action.  What this revelation confirms, we are an utter fraud on this climate change file, should Harper or his Minister ever take the international stage again on climate change, they should be booed or mocked with utter disdain.  Canada is a joke, a pariah and a cancer on the international stage, the audit further evidence.

Perhaps one day someone will bother to ask John Baird where that plan is....  I know, so 2008.