Time for Dion to Practice What he Preaches

Fri Feb 2 10:35:56 2007
NCC Articles

By: Gerry Nicholls / Report Magazine

Liberal leader Stephane Dion is an ardent environmentalist who, if elected Prime Minister, will make sure Canada meets its Kyoto Accord commitments.

Or at least that’s the perceived wisdom as spewed out by the Liberal-friendly national media.

Mind you, the reason the Liberal-friendly national media believes Dion is such super-tree hugger seems to be based on the sole fact that he named his dog, “Kyoto”.

Me, I am a little more skeptical.

I mean, if I call my pet hamster, “Brad Pitt” does that make me a matinee idol?

No, if Dion really wants to prove he is a new breed of environmentally conscious politician he will have to do a lot more.

For instance, he better ditch the limousines. Cars, after all, disgorge huge amounts of planet warming gases. A truly, ecology minded politician would travel everywhere by bike just to set an example to the rest of us polluting Canadians.

Traveling by jet, needless to say, is also a no no.

And I hope he is set to cut off the electricity to Stornoway the mansion where the leader of the Opposition dwells.

Sure living without electric lights, or a refrigerator, or a computer, or a water heater, might be a challenge, but it’s the least a dedicated environmentalist like Dion can do to show he is serious about halting the effects of climate change.

But most importantly of all, if Dion is serious about making sure Canada meets its Kyoto commitments he had better be honest with Canadians in the next election.

In other words, rather than just issuing vague generalities about “environmental sustainability” and “green technology” and “One Tonne-Challenge ads” he had better have a serious plan.

Just consider that under Kyoto, Canada is committed to reducing carbon emissions to six percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Currently our emissions are 30 percent above 1990 levels; meaning we will have to cut them by a whopping 195 megatons – the equivalent of shutting off all the lights in Canada and closing down the entire agricultural industry.

So clearly Dion will have to make some dramatic moves if he is serious about being a “Green Politician”.

Fortunately for him, there’s an easy way to cut back emissions: demolish the economy.

If you shut down the booming energy sector, if you triple the cost of gasoline with tax hikes, if you cripple the automobile industry, if you put thousands of people out of work and impoverish the country, our greenhouse gas emissions will certainly plummet.

And that’s what Dion must make clear to Canadians: if they elect the Liberals and the Liberals truly live up to the terms of the Kyoto Accord, it will mean our standard of living will be drastically reduced.

Mind you, maybe Dion has no real intention of implementing the Kyoto Accord. Maybe he thinks talking about environmentalism and climate change is just a good way to win votes.

If that’s the case than maybe he should change the name of his dog to “Hypocrite.”

Article originally appeared: February 2007