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Thursday, November 26, 2009

I'll go if you make him go too...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a monumental jackass when it comes to environmental policy. The environment ministers he has appointed during his time in office have been inept at best, counterproductive and actively against environmental protection at worst. Harper's statements on the upcoming Copenhagen conference were no better than anyone should at this point expect, but they were still disappointing:
“I have always been clear, if there is a meeting of all major leaders involving climate change, I will of course attend,” Stephen Harper told the House of Commons Wednesday.
The "I'll go if he goes" argument didn't fly in elementary school, it shouldn't fly in the House of Commons. If an issue is important and there is an international conference (that over sixty foreign leaders are already slated to attend), you bloody well go. Dragging your feet and saying, "Well, I'll go if everyone else is going to be there, but until we know everyone is going to be there I'm too cool to show up," basically just says you don't care one bit about the issue. Which, for Stephen Harper on the environment, is pretty much the case.

Edit: Apparently, he has decided to go after all. Although I still have fairly low expectations, it is certainly a start.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here, see if this makes you feel better: smackstephenharper.com

G said...

Hear, Hear!

mls GTA said...

Thanks a lot for the article. I can only say that Harper in general just irritates me. He simply isn't a good prime minister and he never was. We need to change the government in Canada before it's too late.

Elli

Unknown said...

Yeah, that sucks. There has been some discussion in this country over whether or not Obama will go. Looks like he will, but it is still kind of up in the air.

You analysis of the fact that the I'll go if he goes argument is elementary school, and does not belong among adults in powerful positions I think is insightful, and it is a point I will be making in future arguments. Sadly, that is the basic argument that many here in the US use for not supporting any climate change protocols, particularly Koyoto. "China has different rules than the US, so it is a flawed plan, and we should not have to follow it." That is school yard logic, and school yard behavior. Clearly, our leaders never grew up.