Have Your Oil and Eating it Too

hyp·o·crite /ˈhɪpəkrɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hip-uh-krit]

1.	a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

2.	a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.

-- Credit, Dictionary.com

Today Federal Environmental Minister, John Baird, announced that Canada will not withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, just days after the government declared the targets unreasonable in the most recent throne speech.

This is pretty much a polar opposite of Harper's 2004 campaign promise to opt out of Kyoto, and his 2002 letter to supporters where he called Kyoto a "a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations". Now of course in the past few years Al Gore and friends have done a remarkable job of putting the environment higher up on people's consciences, so slamming the only reasonably valid pro-environmental legislation is not the best political move anymore.

This is another fantastic example of Stephen Harper's remarkable ability to speak out of both corners of his mouth. He is a master at keeping his word to the letter, but defying it in spirit. You want us to keep Kyoto? Sure we'll do that! We just won't follow it. You want us to lower the GST? DONE! We'll just raise income taxes so we'll take the same amount of your money! You want us to stay out of Iraq? Anything for you! Only we're going to up our forces in Afghanistan so then the Americans and Brits can send more forces to Iraq. You want us to face up to any allegations of government scandal you report on? That sounds great! But we're just going to limit the amount of contact the media can have with the government so you won't be able to hear about any of it in the first place.

In many ways, this government is like Jafar from Aladdin. Always giving the people exactly what we say we want, just not what we really want. In many ways we've just been teleported underwater to be near a sunken treasure. You know, I'd rather be straight out lied to as opposed to this half-assed attempt at truth.

I don't know if any of you have seen this hilarious video about the adventures of CO2 Man, but I hope you enjoy it, courtesy of the good people at Climate For Change.




Until next time,

G