Suzuki says Premier Ed Stelmach doesn't deserve to lead, and adds that Prime Minister Stephen Harper hasn't a green bone in his body.Suzuki with his off-the-cuff, speak-before-you-think comments fuels the belly of Alberta separatists by ignoring the country's history. When Alberta went bust, the government of Canada stepped in to ensure that it could continue. Canada is built on what is often called, shared risks, and in this example, it was Alberta that benefitted from a very early form of this sharing of vulnerability. I am sure that a well-read federalist and environmentalist like Stephane Dion would want to distance himself from Suzuki's comments.
Finally the Great Green Guru flings himself right over the top, proclaiming that Alberta has "always had the highest standard of living of any province in the country." Suzuki might know biology, but he's weak on history. There was a time in the 1930s when Alberta was so dirt poor that the government couldn't pay its civil servants.
The premier fired back Saturday afternoon, noting that "greenhouse gas reduction will require more than hot air and grandstanding." This spring, Alberta will almost certainly announce a Kyoto-like emission credits system to function within Alberta. Companies will also be made to contribute to a fund for creating new green technologies. Greenhouse gas could be shipped by pipeline for sequestration or producing energy. Over time, Stelmach says, the province will move from reducing emissions intensity (CO2 per barrel) to cutting overall emission levels.To be honest, I am not a fan of David Suzuki. Ever since some of his baseless rants about aquaculture, I find it hard to take him seriously. We need to move away from the extreme rhetoric from all sides to arrive at real, workable solutions.
With his increasingly wild attacks, his conviction of rectitude, his foundation named after himself, and his website laden with photos of himself, it really does seem to be mostly about David Suzuki.
UPDATE: I shared a bus with Diane Ablonczy this week where she welcomed a few degrees of global warming. Nice to know that Steve isn't the only climate change denier in the Tory caucus.
4 comments:
"When Alberta went bust, the government of Canada stepped in to ensure that it could continue. "
Uh... yeah. Of course seperatists(I was a proponent of alberta seperatism in my younger days, and I still wouldn't rule it out) are angry with Canada largely due to the NEP - which was the government stepping in to make Alberta go bust. And then they didn't do much of anything to help Alberta out.
I can't stand Suzuki and his self-righteous attitude.
And you're right about needing to get away from the extreme rhetoric.
I concur on the rhetoric comment. As individuals, we all need to be careful of jumping on bandwagons led by grandstanding charlatans.
It's too bad Suzuki has become one of those "the medium is the message" types of messengers. Word has it he took his 8-person dog and pony show across the country in a diesel-spewing bus built for 30. Way to set an example.
Then there's Al Gore delivering his "Do as I say, not as I do" silver screen message from his energy-inefficient mansion ...
And on it goes.
It is too bad we so seldom hear in the media about politicians and/or activists who believe enough in a cause to actually get results. Probably because they are too busy and committed to walking the walk to waste time merely talking the talk.
Which may explain the ongoing saga of 30+ years of broken promises by politicians to the Ukrainian Canadian community.
But a community of over a million in a country the size of Canada needs a kick in the behind for not being and becoming politically active and more relevent to said politicians.
Well, if the community was monolithic I might agree with you.
Plus, consider the fact that in the case of all four waves of immigration, the Canadian establishment has hardly been open to Ukrainians joining their ranks. (Just ask the folks in Etobicoke.)
Most learned early on not to wear their Ukrainian hearts on their sleeves. Many tried to bury them, but either couldn't, or else their descendants wouldn't, allow their Ukrainian roots to stay buried. (Those btw are my program's target audience.)
So to me, saying the community needs a kick in the behind is rather basically blaming the victim... metaphorically, that is. Ukrainians generally are not given to considering themselves victims.
It's why I appreciate Nash Holos listeners so much. They keep me going week after month after year ...
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