Angry in the Great White North

Check out Halls of Macadamia for the poll.

You can still access it here -- I've copied over the Javacode to execute on this page:

Here's the code itself, in case you are wondering (update: I guess they've closed it off completely):

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/absolutepm/xlaabsolute.asp?p=9"></script>

The results? Nearly 86% of the respondents said that Canada can't meet the target and shouldn't bother trying.

If confronted, I would bet that the Suzuki people will claim that the poll was ruined by a concerted effort of climate change deniers. They might be right. The size of the response is much larger than those of previous polls. But part of the online poll game is that if one side or the other can mobilize a statistically significant number of respondents, that itself tells you something about the mood in the audience.

Of course, if the overwhelming response was the other way, I'd bet it would have been trumpeted as proof of Canada's commitment. No mention would be made of the pro-Kyoto forces spoiling the poll by mustering their supporters to click on the poll.

It makes this comment of Suzuki's somewhat more intriguing:

After meeting with tens of thousands of Canadians on a cross-country tour, environmentalist David Suzuki says he's convinced that most are willing to pay more out of their own pockets to fight climate change, provided that big industries are forced to do the same.

"Maybe we're speaking to the converted, in which case there's a hell of a lot of converted, but certainly the people we encountered are ready to pay higher prices and to sacrifice, because they see this is a great danger," said Suzuki.

That qualification about speaking to the converted -- when I first read it, I wondered why Suzuki would be using that sort of language. Like he was preemtively providing an answer to an uncomfortable question that no one had asked yet. But until I saw this poll, I couldn't figure out why he would be doing that. Now it makes sense.

The poll appears on a page that records the end of Suzuki's tour on March 2. The current page is missing the poll altogether, but the box remains, and the code for it still refers to the poll:

<!-- Poll Question-->
<table width="163" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center">
<tr>
<td><img src="http://www.davidsuzuki.org/images/site/panelTop.gif"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td background="http://www.davidsuzuki.org/images/site/bgPanel.gif">
<table width="130" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center">
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="http://www.davidsuzuki.org/images/site/panelBottom.gif"></td>
</tr>
</table>

You know, if you are a scientist, and you collect data, you present the data even if it contradicts your hypothesis.

Especially if it contradicts your hypothesis.

Makes me think that David Suzuki isn't much of a scientist anymore.