Socialist conspiracy watch
Surely, the Tories knew this was coming. Just when Harper comes out swinging with those nasty attack ads, reminiscent of the anti-Kerry swift-boat ads in 2004, the Liberals (unlike the Democrats) counter-punch very effectively. I think the months to come are going to be pretty ugly in Ottawa.
Canadian Press
OTTAWA — A prime minister who now promises to fight climate change once ridiculed the Kyoto accord as a money-sucking socialist scheme and said he would battle to defeat it.
Stephen Harper derided the global treaty and questioned the science of climate change in a 2002 fundraising letter sent to members of his now-defunct Canadian Alliance party. …
“Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations,†says the letter, signed by Mr. Harper.“Implementing Kyoto will cripple the oil and gas industry, which is essential to the economies of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia . . .
“Workers and consumers everywhere in Canada will lose. THERE ARE NO CANADIAN WINNERS UNDER THE KYOTO ACCORD.â€
Steve, what about the “socialists”? Don’t they win?
He also blasted the treaty for targeting carbon dioxide — which he said is “essential to life†— and played down the science of climate change as “tentative and contradictory.â€
Mr. Harper went on to promise a “battle of Kyoto†in hope of defeating the Chrétien Liberals’ efforts to implement the treaty legislation in the House of Commons.
“But we can’t do it alone. It will take an army of Canadians to beat Kyoto, just as it did to beat (the) Charlottetown (constitutional accord),†he wrote.
An army, fighting for the oil industry … who does that remind you of?
The prime minister’s office would not comment on the letter but pointed out that the emission levels occurred under the previous Liberal government.
“We just denied climate change. It was the Liberals’ fault for listening to people like us and caving in to the political pressure we put on them to do nothing.”
Marc, are you surprised and shocked that PMSH wrote this 5 years ago?
Neither is anyone else. He wasn’t, isn’t and won’t be a Kyoto fan.
Doesn’t mean he is any less concerned about the environment.
If the targets could have been reached, Liberals would have done it in the 8 years they had, with the support of the house except 99 Conservatives. As hard as they tried (which is debateable) Libs couldn’t get the job done. Neither can half of the other Kyoto signators.
I wonder how much emissions have gone up the past year under the Harper government?
Kyoto as it stands is not the Kyoto on 5 or even the famous 13 years ago as our “new” gov is so tiresomely going on about all the time in the house.
This is important. It is not all black and white, Conservative vs Liberal. It involves many countries, constant negotiations, discussions, and who knows what else. About the only thing most agree on is that something is happening and something must be done. If not for us, for our children, our grandchildren.
We have the oil sands. We have Campbell in BC pushing for coal. Sold BC Rail to get a cut of all the new traffic coming out of Alberta with the TILMA deal he cut with Ralph before Ralph quit. Then there is Bush who looks at our oil as his. Includes it in his energy reports. And there is that nice new monster highway coming up from Mexico to more easily move people and products. Look up SPP. It’s all interrelated.
Which is why we need to control it now before it’s all controled for us. Kyoto may not be the answer, not completely. But it’s a start and a good one. And like most things it will need to grow and change and adapt as it moves along.
I’d much rather believe a few hundred scientists than a bunch of neo con wingnuts true believers anyday. I’m just funny that way.
Please…Go and read http://mikemarin.ca/2007/02/07/19/#more-19 for a quick read on how Kyoto is applied.
“…it assumes that Canada had some binding obligation the moment it signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997; in reality this country is only expected to meet its target over the period 2008–2012.”
“When evaluating the Liberal record, it must be remembered that the Kyoto Protocol only became international law in February 2005. Leading up to this date, there was major uncertainty as to whether the agreement would even survive.”
Another fact the Conservative rhetoric obscures is that Canada, like other Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, is only obligated to achieve its targets by the first commitment period, 2008-2012. When the former Liberal government ratified Kyoto it committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 6 percent within this four-year window. Essentially, the Conservatives are criticizing the former Liberal government for failing to deliver on something it never promised (pre-2005 absolute reductions) while putting off what it did promise (absolute reductions by 2008-2012) until 2025. Canadians need to recognize the utter hypocrisy in this reasoning.