Climate Commitment

Outraged Liberal detractors of the year-old Conservative government in Canada aside, the fulsome promises made by the Chretien government in signing the Kyoto Protocol for Canada were never destined to be honoured. Liberal talk comes cheap. Liberals like to talk a good line and perhaps even think they mean what they promise when they say it, but the follow-up is never quite there.

There was, in fact, no reason why the Liberal government of Jean Chretien mightn't have been able to make a good start on its environmental commitments. In fact, at that time, the Liberals had in place a good man whose consuming interest was the environment and who passionately wanted to point Canada in the right direction to take the vitally necessary actions to cement our position.

David Anderson, the Minister of the Environment at the time of Canada's signing on to the protocol was delighted, believing that at last he had the tacit approval of the government to forge ahead with an issue that was always uppermost in his mind well pre-dating Kyoto. He was the quintessential right man at the right time for the right job. He brought well-considered, well researched and potentially promising issues to the cabinet.

Then watched as they languished, the balance of the cabinet bored, disinterested, and the most telling signal of all, the finance minister of the time, Paul Martin, rigidly unwilling to loosen the purse strings to enable David Anderson to get on with the job. Despite all Paul Martin's later professions of environmental responsibility he ignored David Anderson when he was making up his new cabinet as the new Liberal prime minister and brought none other than Stephane Dion on board to fill that position.

Guess he knew his man. Stephane Dion didn't pick up where David Anderson left off; had he attempted to, he would no doubt have been cold-shouldered just as his predecessor had been. Did he even try? He insisted he had the portfolio well in hand, and the Liberals were well on their way to solving our environmental problems. But nothing happened. And the reason was obvious.

Three years earlier a frustrated and disappointed David Anderson, a true believer in the science and the problem we face said "Goddammit...no country's planned more than Canada. This planning thing is a red herring and I'm tired of hearing it. When that's an excuse for doing nothing, that is really an outrageous misuse of language."

Here's the current environment minister, John Baird: "The fourth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will constitute a turning point in the battle against climate change for the world. Therefore, we must accept what the experts say. We must devote our energy to find solutions that would protect the fragile ecosystems of our planet, and we must adopt concrete measures to fight against climate change. And when I say 'we', I mean Canada and all countries. Climate change is a global issue that requires a planetary solution."

Not bad for a former doubter, representing a party previously unconvinced under a leader who described the panic over environmental degradation as something akin to a socialist plot to drag corporate interests and the country's economy into steep decline. At that time they weren't prepared to buy into the Liberal government's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6% below 1990 levels.

The thing of it is, despite all the high-minded rhetoric, neither were the Liberals, for by the time they left office the country was a whopping 35% above its target decline number. But here are the Liberals under their spanking new leader, Stephane Dion, pointing the finger of guilt at the Conservatives for not accepting the terms of Kyoto. Above all, for not affecting meaningful initiatives during their scant year's governance.

The Kyoto Protocol, with its dependency on hot air credits is a flawed document; cleaning our air shouldn't be a credit trade-off, it should be a firm determination to swallow the pain for the future gain of reversing the effects of climate change, maintaining a reasonable momentum against degradation of the environment. "We're going to lead by example and help others with science and technology" promises John Baird.

Environmentalist tell us that when politicians make promises to the electorate on climate change we, the voters, should hold their feet to the fire and demand they acquit themselves honourably on their pledge to us, the environment and the future. "I think the science is clear that these changes are occurring. They're serious and we must act", now says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

He informs us of what we already know but which cannot be repeated too often; this is an enormous problem with no quick and easy solutions. "You can't just snap your fingers and reduce emissions by one third. We have to talk about facts, not about fantasy. The first step in any such plan is to try to stabilize emissions and obviously over the longer term to reduce them." "Trying" has to have some teeth; the longer term cannot be too long.

The Liberals sounded as though they were committed. They said the right things, but did nothing concrete to bring about change during the time frame when they might have made a difference. Mr. Dion now claims that in face of the opposition from the Conservatives it was made too difficult for the Liberals. How so, given the fact they were the government, and a majority government at that?

The Conservatives sound as though they've faced an epiphany and are now committed. Time will most certainly tell. But as with all matters of state that slipped the minds of the Liberals when they were in power this was just one more little inconvenient nuisance to be ignored in the hopes it might just fade away.

In stark contrast to a new government which appears to be focussed on producing results in whatever direction, whatever problem erupts at home and on the world stage. We're waiting. But not for long.