With a Majority mandate, Harper pushes thru his ideological agenda with even more vigour and arrogance than before.

Harper Kills Kyoto
Harper, aping George W, began attacking Kyoto years ago and now the destruction is complete, with Canada becoming the first country in the world to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol! Yes, the same Canada which used to be globally lauded for its championship of the Underdog and the Environment! Under Harper, Canada (you and I) regularly wins the global environmentalists’ Dinosaur of the Year award and averts our collective eyes to torture. These policies impact not only our global image, but the quality of life within Canada – you and I. Polls show a majority of Canadians still supporting Kyoto, even as Harper killed it.

Harper, through his Environmental stooge, Peter Kent (what an ignominious ending to an otherwise stellar career as a Journalist and Reporter!) reasons Canada must withdraw from Kyoto because it favours up-and-coming polluters like China and India to the detriment of long-time, historic polluters like the USA and Canada….which is actually not an unfair idea. Harper chooses to measure China’s pollution by its total global warming pollution rather than its per capita pollution. China’s population is over 1 billion; America about 300,000 million and Canada a staggering 30 million! China’s and India’s per person pollution is very low, whereas rich countries like Canada’s and America’s are very high, which means that we in North America are extremely wasteful of scarce resources and want to continue that way. China has set voluntary global warming targets. The USA’s total pollution (regardless of per capita) is very high. The USA has aggressively exported the notion on Free Market Capitalism as a solution to the World’s problems and China and India are doing precisely what the USA has advocated, yet they, especially China, are now being demonized in the media….which is what I have predicted for years…the new “Evil Empires”.

Protecting the environment, whether global warming or otherwise, is going to cost more money, because at present, we are polluting cost-free in terms of $ - the Free Market. We routinely use the land, air and water as toxic dumping grounds…and then wonder how come we suffer from environmentally influenced diseases! This means we are down-loading the costs of our present life-styles to our children and grandchildren. The longer the delay, the greater will be the damage down the road. It is ironic that the proponents of the unregulated Free Market are Conservatives, because the policies they embrace do not actually Conserve (since they stress short term monetary profit), but Waste and Dissipate our Resources and Infrastructure…all for the God of Greed. Harper is an anti-global warming zealot, because the dirty Tar Sands are located in Alberta, his political base. As long as he is in power, he will not regulate the Tar Sands’ enormous environmental damage, which even his beloved Americans are recognizing, stopping the pipeline to Texas.

Environmental Assessment Act under attack.

A House of Commons standing committee is at present reviewing ways to make the Canadian Environmental Act more “efficient”. Peter Kent, Environment Minister, apparently is looking forward to cutting the annual number of reviews from 6000 at present to just a few hundred! This is a Tory constant - more deregulation and tipping of the scales in favour of corporations and “stake holders” rather than the general public, which often means rural communities (with fewer votes), many in the First Nations.

Greater Toronto is still being threatened by the giant Melancthon Quarry, which is estimated to damage vital head waters and fill 150 trucks per hour (!) with gravel bound for the USA. Don’t they have gravel in America?? Very close to where I live, a new gravel pit has been given the go-ahead at Codrington, generating 700 truckloads a day! We the people pay the real, quality-of-life costs for “cheap” products. It’s tempting for local councillors to say, “Yes” to corporate deals because they get more revenue and can build their little empires… a relatively cheap but legitimate form of self-interest.

Environmental Commissioner criticizes Feds
Commissioner Scott Vaughn reports that the Canadian Federal government often fails to enforce current environmental and safety regulations, including those relating to transporting dangerous products like explosives, sulphuric acid, ammonia etc. See a pattern here?

Sovereignty Sell Out
Without consulting the Canadian people, Harper has given the USA control over our borders, access to privileged information on Canadians and has promised to “harmonize” regulations in many spheres – which means adopting American standards which Canadians have never voted on or even discussed. You know it’s bad when Harper himself describes the one-sided deal as the “most significant steps” in US-Canada cooperation since NAFTA (another sovereignty sell out by a fawning, American wannabe Tory – Mulroney).

What does Canada get for all this? Nothing concrete except “promises” and “pilot projects” to improve infrastructure and border traffic! Diddly squat, in other words.
Parliamentary Hard Ball Harper continues to flout Parliamentary norms to ram thru his policies, limiting debate because now he has a majority (any second thoughts Tory voters?). The Opposition parties are getting frustrated by what NDP Pat Martin called “jackboot tactics”. He used several 4-letter words to protest the Tories’ unprecedented use of “closure” on so many bills in so short a time, including gun registry, scrapping the Wheat Board, the omnibus Crime Bill and the bill to add more Commons seats.

Perhaps echoing this same frustration, Justin Trudeau recently let loose the “S” word on Peter Kent for his antics around Kyoto, which included banning Opposition MPs from travelling to the discussions on Kyoto. What would it have mattered since the whole world (apart from USA) condemns Canada anyway? So much for Transparency and Democracy which Harper promised in his early days of Opposition!