Angry in the Great White North

The "Save Kyoto" Green Ribbon Campaign, like a lot of campaigns, is using a ribbon to be worn by supporters to help popularize and publicize the cause. Here are the instructions for the Green Ribbon Campaign:

I am wearing my Save Kyoto green ribbon

At the Coalition's invitation, I proudly don the Save Kyoto green ribbon to support this general mobilization campaign.

As a Canadian and citizen of the world, this is a way to demonstrate my opposition to the decisions of Stephen Harper's government not to honour the Kyoto Protocol objectives.

How did I do it?

I recycled a green cloth by cutting off a 1 cm by 20 cm strip. I folded the strip into a loop and attached it to my clothes with a sewing needle, with the ends of the strip facing left to recall the shape of the letter "K" for Kyoto .

So far, 120,000 people have signed this petition. And I expect they are wearing their green "K" ribbons.

Well, Canada's opposition MPs have decided to wear the ribbon. But I'm not sure if they signed the petition. Heck, I'm not even sure if they visited the website. Why? Because, except for one Bloc MP, not a single MP was wearing the ribbon the right way:

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion

Liberal Party deputy leader Michael Ignatieff

Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe

NDP leader Jack Layton

Check the MPs in the background of each shot. I couldn't spot any MP with the ribbon mounted the right way.

Except for one, Paul Crête, the Bloc MP for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup:

This is especially amusing since the Bloc Quebecois has a link to the Save Kyoto page from their website. They should have known how to wear the ribbon.

Typical example of politicians trying to score points, but showing just how disconnected they really are from the issue that they are trying to claim for their own. Pure opportunism.

I suppose that the opposition MPs were trying to embarrass the Conservatives, who wore no ribbons as far as I could tell. But I think the opposition MPs are the ones with egg on their collective face.

But of all the MPs, Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion is the one who ought to be the most embarrassed. He's the "green" politician. He should be showing the rest of us how to dress green.