The Next Election
We have been entertained by media speculation, might I say ad nauseum, on the time of the next election and its main theme. Well, speculate no more on the theme. It will be Canada's role in the world, certainly our word on Kyoto, but also and importantly, the role of our troops - peace-keeping not war. Harper has made a military role for Canada the lynchpin of his presidency - oops prime ministry - and Canadians have soundly rejected it. The latest polls indicate the position of Canadians on Afghanistan and I think the NDP bump in the polls is also because of their stand on the war.
What the pundits fail to grasp is the deep importance to Canadians of our identity in the world. It is who we are. Bush may be Harper's idol but Harper does not speak for the majority of Canadians and the next election will make that very clear.
What the pundits fail to grasp is the deep importance to Canadians of our identity in the world. It is who we are. Bush may be Harper's idol but Harper does not speak for the majority of Canadians and the next election will make that very clear.
posted by Susan at 7:28 AM
3 Comments:
Re:Kyoto
As much as some Canadians care about our reputation in the world and believe it will be harmed by kiboshing Kyoto,please remember who put us in the position of HAVING to not honour its terms...that would be Jean "I'm not a lawyer" Chretien...he well understood the impossibility of honouring the committment but in my opinion chose to leave a political time bomb for Paul Martin(his first choice) that instead landed on Harper's lap...
Unfortunately after a decisive beginning to the "New" minority government,I fear that they will soon regress to the non-action of Liberal Regimes that governed by polling...actually they never "governed" that way as annoucements of action never really meant much to the Libs and although sometimes enacted were rarely effected ...kind of like tsunamai or earthquake relief announcements(Canada is not alone in reneging on these pledges).
Also I suspect that many Kyoto boosters do not know that the BRIC block and America have not signed on ...and of course almost none know the actual targets...
the implications for Canada would be disasterous if we decided to honour "our word"...Don't get me wrong...we need to curtail pollution and eventually eradicate it...however "global warming" as the catchphrase IMO is another red herring a la recycling...more importantly we need to make our focus on clean air and clean water and many will argue that's exactly what Kyoto will effect...sorry but it seems to only attempt to restrict CO2 emissions ...if new measurements of co2 show global cooling do we all start buying Hummers again?....And why do I feel that recycling was a red herring?(he asked himself in Rumsfeldian fashion)...because all the Yuppies signed on to blue boxes and then went out and bought SUV's after they'd assuaged their guilt...am far more worried about clean air and water supply than being suffocated by Pampers and pop cans...
Re:Peace-keeping vis -a-
vis war...This can be a HUGE discussion but briefly I do believe that the Afghan cause is a righteous one and intervention is needed there...and not the kind of intervention where one sits in a bunker and phones UN headquaters and says "Gee they just wiped out a village,raped all the women,killed the men and boys,burned down the school and then continued down the road and blew up a World Heritage site...what should we do"...In these days of instant gratification...well we want our history to be instantly gratifing as well ....sorry but it don't work dat way...history that is...we will only know the results of today decades later...not next week...
When mentioning the actual terms of Kyoto with this blog host,she attempted to dismiss them as a "Conservative" mantra...It seems that her mantra is that BUSH equals Harper....why?? we have a few rented tanks???... the present government is right of center ???...
Welcome Christo to the world of blogging. I recommend you check out Andrew Coyne's blog where people of like mind reside, but your comments are always welcome here.
Saying that Chretien wasn't effective at Kyoto is like saying Churchill didn't keep up with road repair during WWII. People forget so quickly how much Chretien did for the economy, social justice, research and development and arts and culture. The Liberals were addressing Kyoto when Martin lost the election.
As for the Cons being decisive, Mr. H. stamping his feet and saying "I want my way, whatever that is" and then calling people names when he doesn't get his way is hardly decisive.
The cons' enviro plan: Baird, who's capable of nattering for 15 minutes without saying a thing, has come up with a plan that has made the oil patch happy - does that tell you something?
And as for Bush and Harper, they're two peas in a pod - let me count the ways - next time.
I never said any such thing about Chretien that you attribute to me...perhaps you should re-read my Chretien comments and if you still do not understand then perhaps I'll deign to explain them to you...T'is very easy to forget what Chretien did for the economy...remind me will you...but please take into account a 65 cent dollar that enabled Cdn Cos. to ignore productivity issues,and a 7 % GST...bringing down the debt (unfortunately by way of a heavy taxation burden )was necessary and Paul Martin should be commended ...but debt reduction does not equal doing good things for the economy...thankfully the dynamic economic world today pretty well runs on its own without too much interference from Chretien or any other administrators...Canada's economic ass has been saved by higher commodity prices ... but I am curious to hear your reasons for believing that J.C was good for the economy,as would most people.
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