Somebody please tell Harpo that the incumbent Australian PM got voted out because he refused to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol. Harpo opened his piehole wide at the Commonwealth Summit in Kampala, Uganda…and the wrong sounds came out. And right on the heels of that came a major, MAJOR fuckery:
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisted any reference to binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions be deleted because the call for committing to such targets would not apply to all major polluters.
“What we were dealing with here was an initial proposal that would suggest binding and absolute targets on some countries and not others. And Canada has been insistent now at three consecutive international forums that we need one effective international protocol that ultimately involves action by all major emitters,” he said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who met earlier Saturday with Harper, was one of the strongest advocates of a binding commitment to reduce greenhouse gases.
But Canada refused to agree to the plan, and without consensus, the Commonwealth was blocked.
Harper pointed out that Canada’s position at the Commonwealth is the same to one it took at the G-8 and APEC summits earlier this year.
He said the next international climate deal to replace the Kyoto accord, which expires in 2012, should include commitments from such countries as China and India, as well as the United States.
In hockey parlance, this sort of exercise is called “killing the clock”. Basically, you’re not playing to win when the game is close and you’re ahead, but just filling time and blocking shots until the other side loses.
We are still 5 years from the expiration of the Kyoto accord, and would lose nothing from signing on and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, but noooooo. Harpo has once again decided to put commerce ahead of the environment. Despicably, he’s playing it as if he were proposing some kind of innovative, made-in-Canada PRO-environmental policy. But not only is NO made-in-Canada policy on the table, what IS on the table is copied from BushCo’s book. And we all know who THEY favor.
Meanwhile, for a REAL made-in-Canada environmental solution, guess which Canadians have been ignored? Yep–you guessed it. The environmentalists. AGAIN.
Harpo’s mealy mouth has out-shouted a clear majority at the Commonwealth. And this Canadian is deeply ashamed of his bullying, lies, and doubletalk.
Especially since global warming is the only thing that will ultimately benefit from all this clock-killing.
