Angry in the Great White North

In an interview with the Business News Network, David Suzuki gives his assessment of Liberal Party Michael Ignatieff.  It's not good.  You can see this segment at the 5:54 mark:

David Suzuki:  You know Michael Ignatieff was the first person to propose a carbon tax, before Dion.  Now with Dion's disastrous presentation, guess what?  Michael Ignatieff's backed off that --  now he is courting the tar sands. He claims he's an environmentalist!

Howard Green:  So I would assume you would not support him as Prime Minister?

David Suzuki:  Well I would say I got to talk to this guy before he starts running for Prime Minister.  He told me before he ran to be the leader the first time -- he told me that the environment was a high priority for him.

Well, Mr. Ignatieff, if it is, why have you backed away from the carbon tax?  Well of course it was a disaster.  And why is that you are now courting the tar sands as part of the economic engine of the country?  It's crazy.

It may be crazy, but it's that special kind of crazy that Michael Ignatieff seems to love.  Michael Ignatieff has no policy except to say whatever seems expedient at the moment.  Asbestos is good.  Asbestos is bad.  Israel was justified in the attack on Qana.  Israel committed war crimes in Qana.  Ignatieff will raise taxes.  Ignatieff won't raise taxes.  Ignatieff is for a carbon tax.  Ignatieff is against a carbon tax.

But I wouldn't worry if I was David Suzuki.  No doubt if and when Michael Ignatieff meets with David Suzuki, Ignatieff will tell Suzuki that he is, indeed, for a carbon tax.  That will last as long as it takes Michael Ignatieff to meet a voter from Alberta.

Give it up, Suzuki.  Michael Ignatieff is no friend of the environment.  Not enough votes in it.

On the other hand...

David Suzuki's single-minded devotion to taxing Canadians is getting him in trouble with some environmentalists:

What kind of environmentalists would support B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell for imposing a 2.4 cent a litre gas tax when not one penny goes to public transit or expenditures that reduce pollution?

What kind of environmentalists support a B.C. Liberal government that radically expanded fish farms that are devastating wild salmon, promotes offshore oil and gas drilling, privatized rivers and streams for power projects, slashed wildlife protection, ended a ban on trophy hunting for grizzly bears and offers hundreds of millions in tax incentives for fossil fuel exploration?

Meet David Suzuki, Tzeporah Berman and friends.

And so marine researcher and fish farm opponent Alexandra Morton takes David Suzuki to task, accusing him of acting like a child:

Subject: PUNISH CAROLE JAMES!!!!!!!!

To Karen Campbell, David Suzuki, Tzeporah Berman

You want to punish Carole James??? Do you think this is grade school we are in? IS this really the most brilliant thing you could do?

As the living systems of the part of the world are under the final assault by the BC Liberal Government, you make headlines.

Do you realize that without so much as a heads up to those of us in the trenches trying to keep this coast alive you just snuffed out decades of work?

I am disgusted with the environmentalism in BC. There is no respect for anyone, least of all your peers.

You seem to have no idea of what Gordon Campbell is bringing down on us, irreversible wild salmon extinctions.....what do the trees that pull carbon out of the atmosphere need to survive???? SALMON!!!!!!

Your love in with Campbell is a betrayal to all that are alive in BC. Campbell is selling BC's most vital resources....fresh running water...And that is OK with you? Because you sure did not get that into the headlines.

Yeah, you got big headlines....now what. If Campbell gets re-elected you can take the credit for all that follows.

I hope your funders are pleased with you because them and the Campbell government are the only ones.

Alexandra Morton

Maybe having David Suzuki on your side isn't equivalent to having environmentalist vote sewed up after all.  In that case, maybe Michael Ignatieff doesn't much care what David Suzuki thinks.  That would be a surprise though.  Michael Ignatieff always seems to worry about what the last person he met thinks.