How About a Purpose for the Passion?
Here were all those delegates at the Liberal leadership convention last week-end, fired up with enthusiasm about party renewal and their mission to elect a brand, spanking-new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. New is good, renewal is even better, given that the Liberal party has fallen just about as low in public esteem as it conceivably could.
Certainly not without cause, given the failures of two successive Liberal governments, nor the arrogance with which they held power, let alone the public anger unleashed by the revelation of taxpayer-funded giveaways to friends of the Liberal party in the guise of public good.
The major issue put forward by the delegates, if not by the leadership hopefuls, was the state of the environment, Canada's commitment to the climate change crisis, exemplified by the Liberal government's signing on to the Kyoto dialogue on implementation of meaningful and workable legislation leading to improvement in emissions controls.
Just as a incidental aside, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development released findings from an audit on the Liberal record which pointed out that:
And these happy and enthused, self-congratulatory delegates singled out their final candidate as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, the once-minister of the environment in the last sitting of the Liberal party in Parliament, a decent and honourable Stephane Dion. Who, for all his decency and sense of honour delivered nothing at all in his portfolio, yet maintained his initiatives had been cut short by the election which brought the Liberals to their knees.
If we take Mr. Dion at his word, and there is no reason for us not to, what exactly did he think he might have accomplished, given several more years, in light of the audit which revealed the Liberal plan to have been such an utter failure? Does Mr. Dion not understand the reality of failure, perhaps believing that passion is enough and will pass for purpose and success?
In David Ljunggren's column of today, "Stop Trash-Talking, Start Acting" he points out how utterly astounded he was as an onlooker/reporter at the convention to discover, post-convention, a veritable mountain of trash left behind by the conventioneers, that earnest bunch of environmentalists. Mr. Ljunggren lists the constituent elements of the garbage; everything from newspapers, documents, empty soft-drink tins, batteries, food wrappers, paper bags, chip packets, confectinary wrappers, convention programmes, political leaflets - and on and on - strewn about liberally.
All casually disposed of, on floors, chairs, tables, seldom in trash disposal containers. And nowhere at all was there to be seen containers for recycling all of this garbage. Just the garbage itself, lots of it, littered about everywhere in the wake of the convention. Styrofoam cups, plastic spoons and forks, bottle caps, flattened bottles and sodden paper. The detritus of people having a good time with no consideration for the wherewithal of the garbage they generated.
These delegates, the conscience of the Liberal party, went against the grain of the party elite, to select their own choice for leader of the official opposition, certain in the knowledge that he would soon ascend to the prime ministership of this country. After all, the need to combat the universal problem of environmental degredation is great, who could possibly not wish to vote for a regenerated Liberal party with a new, honest and believable leader?
I guess I can think of a whole lot of people who might still remember what the Liberal party as the governing body left us with; a whole lot of bad memories that won't go away anytime soon. And the realization that the signal issue of the day facing both this country and the world at large, the health of the world environment so forcefully supported by Stephane Dion, merited seeingly insufficient attention from him when something concrete might have been accomplished with a little more determination and a lot more effort.
Like the oversight about what to do with that mountain of trash left behind by the Liberal convention. Tch, tch.
Certainly not without cause, given the failures of two successive Liberal governments, nor the arrogance with which they held power, let alone the public anger unleashed by the revelation of taxpayer-funded giveaways to friends of the Liberal party in the guise of public good.
The major issue put forward by the delegates, if not by the leadership hopefuls, was the state of the environment, Canada's commitment to the climate change crisis, exemplified by the Liberal government's signing on to the Kyoto dialogue on implementation of meaningful and workable legislation leading to improvement in emissions controls.
Just as a incidental aside, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development released findings from an audit on the Liberal record which pointed out that:
- This audit group experienced great disappointment in the government's long-standing failure to address green-house gas emissions;
- Under the Kyoto Protocol, Canada agreed to reduce its emission levels, but in actual fact the government's own data revealed that emission levels rose substantially and continued to rise, not decline;
- That even if measures in the government's plan had been fully implemented project reductions might not have reached targets; in certain sectors the measures were inadequate to meeting Kyoto obligations;
- The government's weak handling of transitions from plan to plan over the history of the file has hampered progress;
- Investments in science and research in changes in climactic systems by government demonstrate significant information gaps; government has failed to effectively mobilize and organize its scientific and research activities to ensure decision-makers receive vital data.
- A government-wide system of accountability for climate change has been hampered by the phase-out of mechanisms and committees that have not been replaced; signs of problems in government's management of the climate change initiative;
- Despite earmarking over $6B in initiative funding on climate change, there is no effective government-wide system in place to track performance and expenditures; the necessary tools for effective management are absent;
- In summary, the (Liberal) government's response to climate change is a sad story revealing inadequate leadership, planning and performance; lack of foresight and direction prevailing - creating confusion and uncertainty - all these of the government's own making.
And these happy and enthused, self-congratulatory delegates singled out their final candidate as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, the once-minister of the environment in the last sitting of the Liberal party in Parliament, a decent and honourable Stephane Dion. Who, for all his decency and sense of honour delivered nothing at all in his portfolio, yet maintained his initiatives had been cut short by the election which brought the Liberals to their knees.
If we take Mr. Dion at his word, and there is no reason for us not to, what exactly did he think he might have accomplished, given several more years, in light of the audit which revealed the Liberal plan to have been such an utter failure? Does Mr. Dion not understand the reality of failure, perhaps believing that passion is enough and will pass for purpose and success?
In David Ljunggren's column of today, "Stop Trash-Talking, Start Acting" he points out how utterly astounded he was as an onlooker/reporter at the convention to discover, post-convention, a veritable mountain of trash left behind by the conventioneers, that earnest bunch of environmentalists. Mr. Ljunggren lists the constituent elements of the garbage; everything from newspapers, documents, empty soft-drink tins, batteries, food wrappers, paper bags, chip packets, confectinary wrappers, convention programmes, political leaflets - and on and on - strewn about liberally.
All casually disposed of, on floors, chairs, tables, seldom in trash disposal containers. And nowhere at all was there to be seen containers for recycling all of this garbage. Just the garbage itself, lots of it, littered about everywhere in the wake of the convention. Styrofoam cups, plastic spoons and forks, bottle caps, flattened bottles and sodden paper. The detritus of people having a good time with no consideration for the wherewithal of the garbage they generated.
These delegates, the conscience of the Liberal party, went against the grain of the party elite, to select their own choice for leader of the official opposition, certain in the knowledge that he would soon ascend to the prime ministership of this country. After all, the need to combat the universal problem of environmental degredation is great, who could possibly not wish to vote for a regenerated Liberal party with a new, honest and believable leader?
I guess I can think of a whole lot of people who might still remember what the Liberal party as the governing body left us with; a whole lot of bad memories that won't go away anytime soon. And the realization that the signal issue of the day facing both this country and the world at large, the health of the world environment so forcefully supported by Stephane Dion, merited seeingly insufficient attention from him when something concrete might have been accomplished with a little more determination and a lot more effort.
Like the oversight about what to do with that mountain of trash left behind by the Liberal convention. Tch, tch.
posted by Pieface | 5:33 PM
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