Global warming believers build in the escape hatch

As many people have heard, a new study admits that the Earth has not been warming as predicted, but actually cooling off.

But leave it to the global warming crowd to turn this into a win-win for them.

Pointlessly pushing for forced sustainability

Severn Cullis-Suzuki wants governments to force citizens to be good environmentalists.  I don't think she means green stormtroopers, but punitive taxation that forces rationing.  The problem for Cullis-Suzuki is two-fold:

1. A plan like that won't work unless the major consuming countries all agree to it.
2. Canadians know that a plan like that won't work unless the major consuming countries all agree to it.

The Green Shift is thrown down the memory hole

Well, this came as a surprise.  The Liberal Party website thegreenshift.ca is now redirecting to Jennifer Wright's greenshift.ca.

Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan is well and truly dead.

David Suzuki: We don't need the Green Party because we don't need debate on the environment

David Suzuki is spinning around again.  This time he tries to explain himself in a full-length op-ed in the National Post.

He actually starts to come in, loud and clear.

What does David Suzuki really think about the Green Party?

There has been a minor dustup this week when David Suzuki was quoted in a Thunder Bay media report as saying that the Green Party is preventing the adoption of environmental policies by major parties.

Nonsense, says the Green Party.

I've been misquoted, says David Suzuki.

Well, then David Suzuki seems to have been misquote more than once.

David Suzuki claims he was misquoted

It's a shame, because what David Suzuki didn't say made a lot of sense.  But a press release from the Green Party clears up the matter.

Sort of.

Green Party responds to David Suzuki

I asked the Green Party to respond to David Suzuki's comments that the Green Party is in the way of further political progress of environmental issues.

David Suzuki: Right on the money when he says the Green Party must go away

I've given David Suzuki a rough ride on this blog, and I'm sure he hasn't noticed it in the least.  But when he says something that makes perfectly good sense, I have to point that out too.

In this case, he says that the existence of the Green Party prevents any real action on environmental issues by governments.

Therefore, he concludes, the Green Party must disappear.

And he's absolutely right.

Liberals distance themselves from the Green Shift

Launch in external player

Liberal candidate in Alberta says Green Shift is the new NEP

The Green Shift is a wealth distribution program.  A new version of the National Energy Program.

Hey, don't believe me.  That's what Liberal Party candidate Mohamed El-Rafih is saying.

The Green Shift isn't even remotely simple, but the Liberals aren't worried

It's powerful.  It's simple.  Vote for the Green Shift.

But really, it isn't simple at all.  There's a big problem with regards to how provinces will be treated differently.  Should you be concerned?

I suppose that depends.  If you are a believer in the Liberal Party, then you won't be concerned.  The Liberals don't seem to be worried.  They're not even talking about the issue.

Michael Ignatieff: Green Shift tax cuts bad, but Liberals will have no choice

Just what exactly is Michael Ignatieff talking about?  The deputer leader of the Liberal Party was talking to Newmarket council that governments ought to be spending like drunken sailors. 

And they would be too, if it weren't for cuts to the GST.  And as for the tax cuts in the Green Shift, well, the Liberals have no choice.  And he wishes it was different.

Stephane Dion dumps the Green Shift: Not central, not major, not much of anything

Frankly, I can hardly believe it.  The Liberals are chucking the Green Shift?  I suppose Stephane Dion can't be too far behind.

Revenue Neutral: The carbon tax and the excise tax merge together

Stephane Dion's carbon tax is supposed to be revenue neutral.  I know we all know that doesn't mean all Canadians, or even most Canadians, will come out ahead.

Heck, with the inflationary effect of a global energy tax, it is likely we'll all be hurting.

But when I look at the diesel portion of the tax more closely, I realize that the carbon tax is in two parts.  Does revenue neutrality mean both parts are given back to Canadians?  Or will a Liberal government keep a big chunk of the diesel carbon tax for itself?

If that money doesn't come back to me, then how is this revenue neutral?

Carolyn Bennett to Canadians: Depend less on facts, and more on faith in David Suzuki

If there are any lingering doubts about whether environmentalism is the new religion of the left, Carolyn Bennet dispels them.  Carolyn Bennett, the Liberal Party health critic, tells an audience that they ought to vote for Stephane Dion and the Green Shift.

The reason?  Faith.

Not in God.  What does He know?  No, all we need is faith in David Suzuki.

Liberal Shawn Murphy: There won't be a Green Shift this winter

A new headache for the Liberals.  The Liberal MP for the riding of Charlottetown, Shawn Murphy, has revealed that for the sound and fury, the Liberals won't be implementing a carbon tax after all.

At least not right away.

Wow.

Oh, and Shawn Murphy's website has suddenly gone down.

How do you say "The Green Shift" in Russian?

Check out the Liberal Party campaign video for the Green Shift, Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan.

Part of Stephane Dion's vision for the fairer and greener Canada is more mass transit.  A subway system is shown in the video.

Apparently, a fairer and greener Canada is best imagined by watching the Moscow Metro in action.

David Orchard: Green Shift leaves no options for farmers

Hey, remember when people said that David Orchard, the Liberal candidate for Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, would turn out to be a headache for Stephane Dion?

They were right.  You see, according to David Orchard, Stephane Dion's carbon tax, also known as the Green Shift, will hurt farmers.  And farmers have no technological options other than to use diesel.

But Stephane Dion said farmers can go green with the subsidy he's promising them.

Shouldn't Dion and Orchard be reading from the same script during an election campaign?

The Liberal Party is a living example of how the carbon tax works

The Liberal Party is showing us the carbon tax in action.  And it's not pretty.

Carbon offsets are a campaign expense?

Give the Liberals credit.  Cash-strapped as they are, they are paying for carbon offsets.  I mean, I think carbon offsets are dumb, but the Liberals are walking the walk, as it were.

But then the Liberals are hoping to get donations to cover the cost of carbon offsets, which they say is a campaign expense.

Which leads to interesting questions.

Canadians trust the Conservatives to deal with the environment

Readers of this blog might notice that I don't comment on polls all too often.  I do read polls, of course, and think they can incredibly useful.  But there are so many reasons to be cautious of what polls are saying.

So I usually don't say much about a poll unless there is some bit of news or information, not derived from a poll, that reinforces a polling result.

Such a tidbit has popped up today, reinforcing what I think to be one of the strangest, and yet most pleasing, polling results I've seen in while.  The Conservatives are trusted more than the Liberals when it comes to dealing with the environment.

Stephane Dion's translation gets the wrong Green Shift (again) and during an election too

The Liberal Party is facing an $8.5 million lawsuit from Green Shift Inc because of Stephane Dion's decision to call his carbon tax plan "The Green Shift".

The Liberal defense is that no one would ever get the two entities confused.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Wright, the head of Green Shift Inc, has filed for an injunction, arguing that in the spotlight of an election, the damage her firm is suffering from being associated and confused with the Liberal Party is going to accelerate.

So how does Stephane Dion help the situation?  He goes on and directs people to Jennifer Wright's website to find out more about his carbon tax because of a bad translation.

Liberal Party carbon offsets

The Liberal Party is leasing a 30-year-old 737 as Stephane Dion's campaign plane.  It is, by far, the dirtiest aircraft used by the major parties.

But apparently any criticism is misguided.  See, the Liberal Party is buying carbon offsets.

Well then, that fixes the problem, doesn't it.

Doesn't it?

Car Pools and Corpses

Stephane Dion seems to live in another world from the rest of Canadians.

He has no idea what a car pool is.  The man who wants us to believe that he knows the secret of how to lead Canada to an environmental Nirvana doesn't know what a carpool is.

Of course, he probably thinks Nirvana is reached through the yoga poses he practices every day.

I hope he's working on Shavasana.  The Corpse Pose will be very appropriate for Stephane Dion's political aspirations unless he figures out how to connect with real Canadians.

Canadian Trucking Alliance rejects Stephane Dion's carbon tax adjustment

Liberals are praising Stephane Dion as someone who listened to "suggestions" about his proposed carbon tax, and then acted on those suggestions to make his carbon tax "stronger".

To others, however, it looked more like some Liberal MPs were furious that they could lose their seats unless concessions were made, and they forced Stephane Dion to make those concessions.

Hey, is anyone listening to what the truckers -- one those groups who complained loudest -- are saying.

They don't like the carbon tax, and the adjustment hasn't changed their minds.

Michael Ignatieff: No more carbon tax changes

Today Stephane Dion announced subsidies for farmers, fishermen, and truckers, as a way of offsetting the effect of a carbon tax.

So the natural question is whether Canadians can expect more changes.  According to Michael Ignatieff, there won't be any further changes.

Stephane Dion's useless subsidy

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion has had to back down on a major portion of his carbon tax.  Faced with growing criticism from farmers, fishermen, and truckers, and the frustration of Liberal MPs who would lose votes from these groups, Stephane Dion is throwing money at the problem.

But not just money.  He's going to give farmers, fishermen, and truckers a subsidy that can only be applied to buy green equipment to replace existing equipment.  Which I'm willing to bet makes this an utterly useless subsidy.

Apparently global warming can be defeated by complaining loudly enough

Here is a primer for those of you who still don't understand how global warming works:

• The dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil.
• We drilled for oil, and used most of it to spray on ducks, and the rest we turned into carbon dioxide.
• Carbon dioxide is a hot gas, and it's making the Sun hotter, which is making the Earth hotter, which makes polar bears sweat, and that's a bad thing.
• To make the Earth cooler and make polar bears happy, Canadians will pay money to Stephane Dion, who will give all of it back.
• The exchange of money will cool the Earth (ok, this part is a bit vague).
• Farmers are worried that they won't get enough back after all of it is given back (clearly they are confused, because everyone is supposed to get all their money back, a process that results in global cooling in a way that is not entirely understood by non-Liberals).
• Liberals who are worried that farmers won't vote for them are complaining loudly, which is generating even more hot air (which warms the Sun and makes polar bears sweat even more, and that's a bad thing).
• Stephane Dion is going to change the plan by making the carbon tax even stronger, making farmers happy so that they stop bothering Liberals.
• This results in less hot air and comfortable polar bears.
• The happiness of farmers who might vote Liberal will cool the Earth (ok, this part is a bit vague too).

Remember, if you don't believe this science, David Suzuki is going to throw you in jail.

But perhaps you want know more details, minus the silliness.

Liberal blogger's brilliant carbon tax analysis

Steve V at Far and Wide has a brilliant analysis of the support for Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's carbon tax.

I urge you to read it, top to bottom, then consider what it means.

Gustav a category 5 disappointment for the global warming crowd

Nothing like a good storm to blame on global warming, Western industrialization, Church-sanctioned misogyny, and the Great Pumpkin.

But when that storm fizzles, you can almost taste the disappointment in the air.

Which is surprising, really.  if you think about it, global warming ought to reduce the intensity of hurricanes.

If you think about it.  But then who has time to think when there is all that fear-mongering to do?

Ireland's Green Party leader dumps plan for carbon tax

Astonishingly, some people aren't as perceptive as Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, and think that a carbon tax is a complex plan that will negatively affect a lot of people.

In Ireland, the leader of the Green Party and the Minister for the Environment in the coalition government, John Gormley, has dropped plans for a carbon tax for exactly such reasons.

This the second time the goverment in Ireland has been forced to step back from implementing a carbon tax.

Why?  Who knows?  The reasons given make no sense.  Don't they know that this tax is simple to implement, makes everyone richer, eliminates poverty, has no effect on rural voters, and saves the environment?

That's what Stephane Dion has been explaining to Canadians.  Maybe he needs to give John Gormley a call and explain it to him.

Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes or so. 

thegreentaxshift.ca: A Liberal backup plan? [Update: More backup names?]

Interestingly, a full 11 days after registering thegreenshift.ca to be the online home of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's plan for a massive carbon tax, the Liberals registered thegreentaxshift.ca.  That was only days after being told by Jennifer Wright that she did not want to share the name.  Days after registering this alternate name, the Liberals were served with a cease-and-desist order from Jennifer Wright of Green Shift Inc.

Despite registering this alternate name, the Liberals aren't using it, preferring to fight Jennifer Wright for "Green Shift".

Update: I found some more alternate names.  And they were all registered after the launch and after the call to Jennifer Wright, not before.

Liberals still confusing GreenShift.ca and TheGreenShift.ca

Right on the heels of a news story reporting that the Liberals claim no reasonable chance of confusion between the Liberal Party's Green Shift tax plan and Jennifer Wright's Green Shift environmental consultancy firm, I find yet another example of confusion between the two.

As before, it is a Liberal who is unable to keep the two straight.

Liberal Atlantic Caucus really did avoid mention of carbon tax

Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a point of mentioning how the Liberals in Atlantic Canada avoided mention of Stephane Dion's plan for a carbon tax in the media release following their caucus meeting.

The silence speaks volumes.

But oddly, the media made it sound like a simple statement of fact -- that the Liberal media release did not discuss the carbon tax -- is some sort of clever Conservative trick meant to confuse the listener.

Oops: Liberal MP Hedy Fry promises high food prices but huge benefits for Alberta and Saskatchewan from carbon tax

Liberal MP Hedy Fry becomes the latest in a line of Liberals attempting to explain Stephane Dion's promised carbon tax.

It is a pitiable performance.

Garth Turner attempts to wipe his blog clean of his latest stumble

In my last post, I looked at a blog post by Garth Turner, Liberal MP and communications guru for the Liberal Party.  A senior citizen by the name of Jon C Coates had a letter printed in a Halifax newspaper, in which he proceeded to show how a single senior would suffer under Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan.

Garth Turner immediately responded by alleging that this person was not real, and indeed was some sort of fraudulent Conservative Party frontman spewing lies.

This even after Garth Turner had spoken to Jon's wife.

Well, in the best Orwellian fashion, Garth Turner has erased his old post, put up a new one, speaks highly of Jon C Coates, and proceeds to call Stephen Harper a liar.

Hmmm.  I don't see a public apology directed at Jon for publicly declaring Jon to be a liar.

Garth Turner vents his spleen on a senior citizen on long-term disability -- and prepares to backtrack

A letter from Jon C Coates of Halifax is getting a lot of attention.  In it, he describes how he is going to suffer as a result of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's carbon tax.

Well, Garth Turner is the communications guru handling the carbon tax file.  So he reveals on his blog that (1) Jon C Coates is a liar, and (2) Jon C Coates probably doesn't exist.

Jon C Coates, according to Garth Turner, is likely a fiction concocted by the Prime Minister's Office, and Garth Turner is pulling back the curtain to reveal the ugly truth.

OK, so I called Jon C Coates, and we had a long conversation.

David McGuinty can't keep Green Shifts straight

I've been idly checking out references to Jennifer Wright's website greenshift.ca, the site that supports her company Green Shift Inc.  The Liberals under Stephane Dion decided that the name "Green Shift" should really have been theirs, and so named their carbon tax plan The Green Shift, supported with a website thegreenshift.ca.

The reason I've been checking is to see whether Jennifer Wright is correct in her assertion that the Liberals are damaging her brand.  The Liberals say that no one is going to be confused and that the two entities can easily coexist.

The problem is that I find evidence, over and over again, of confusion.  This time from the Liberal's own environment critic, David McGuinty.

Liberal Party candidate Claudette Roy names greenshift.ca as carbon tax website

As I've posted before, there is something to Jennifer Wright's argument that when the Liberal Party decided to name Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan "The Green Shift", her company Green Shift Inc would suffer from the confusion that would result.

Nonsense, say the Liberals and their apologists.  People will be able to tell the two apart.

Apparently people can't tell them apart.  One such person is Claudette Roy.  She's the Liberal Party's candidate for the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona.

More Green Shift confusion

Jennifer Wright of Green Shift Inc is suing the Liberal Party.  The Liberal Party has named their carbon tax plan "The Green Shift", and Wright's position is that the use of that name is hurting her business.

The Liberal contend that there is no reason for people to be confused.

Well, for the second time, I've found a blatant example of confusion is the media.

Oil prices already too high said former Liberal candidate Bobby Morrissey

Even as Stephane Dion is making noises about a fall election (that could be as soon as six weeks from now), the Liberal Party has lost two candidates. 

Garry Oledzki in Saskatchewan and Robert "Bobby" Morrissy in PEI have both stepped down as candidates.

In the case of Bobby Morrissey, it might indeed be a problem selling Stephane Dion's carbon tax.

Confused Liberals: The Top 21 Carbon Tax Questions

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion could not explain his carbon tax plan to his own aides.

There are a lot of questions that I suspect Stephane Dion will have trouble answering.  I've compiled my favourite 21 questions that I think every Liberal MP ought to be able to answer.

Stephane Dion and the Carbon Tax: Martha Hall Findlay responds

I was among many people who commented when Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay was quoted as saying that the effectiveness of Stephane Dion's carbon tax could not be predicted, or even measured after the fact.

Martha Hall Findlay wrote to me by way of response.  I've posted her note here in its entirety:

Carbon tax confusion cleared up -- Stephane Dion just doesn't care

British Columbia has a carbon tax.

Quebec has a carbon tax.

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion promises to inflict a carbon tax on Canadians if he ever becomes prime minister.

The obvious question -- how do these two levels of taxation interact -- is causing no end of confusion.

But really, there is no reason for confusion.  Stephane Dion has made it clear today that whether Canadians in some parts of the country will be required to pay two taxes is irrelevant to him.

He has the power to make every Canadian pay a price for everything they do, and he intends to use it.

Green Shift: A lump of coal or a precious diamond?

Just how prevalent is the phrase "green shift"?

Stephane Dion directs people to Jennifer Wright's Green Shift Inc

As we all know, Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion is proposing a carbon tax, which he calls The Green Shift.  There is a company that has been in operation for years called Green Shift Inc that is suing the Liberals for using the name without permission.

But one is "Green Shift" and the other is "The Green Shift", or so argue Liberal Party apologists.

Perhaps it is a significant distinction, but only if the Liberals actually use it.  So what does it mean when Stephane Dion directs people to the website for Green Shift Inc, instead of the party's website for The Green Shift carbon tax?

To me it means that Green Shift Inc boss Jennifer Wright has a point when she says that the names are causing confusion, which is why she needs relief from the courts to force the Liberals to change the name and to pay for damages.

Message to Stephane Dion: Do your damn job, sir!

Stephane Dion gets a rough ride while on the road...from his own nominee!

Oops: Liberal nominee Gerry Samson can't sell Green Shift (except to stealth Liberals)

Yet again, Liberals are undermining Stephane Dion's attempt to sell his carbon tax plan (aka The Green Shift) to Canadians.

This time, we have Liberal nominee Gerry Samson in Stormont-Dundas-South-Glengarry admitting, on the record, with Stephane Dion in the room, that Samson can't get local residents to believe him when he tells them that they will benefit from Stephane Dion's new tax.

Well, one guy in the audience loved the idea of the carbon tax.  But then as it turns out, he's a local Liberal Party riding association activist (ed. actually a director and a member of the riding association executive).  Of course, that wasn't mentioned in the media report.  He's described as just a local resident who was really impressed with Stephane Dion.

Oops: Liberal MP Ralph Goodale explains how most oil consumption will not be taxed

Is Saskatchewan going to hurt badly by Stephane Dion's carbon tax?  Well, Stephane Dion admitted as much, but Liberal MP Ralph Goodale has taken the time to explain this more clearly. 

Don't worry, he says.

Almost all the oil taken out of the ground in Saskatchewan will be consumed and turned into carbon dioxide emissions without a dime of tax being applied.

Oil company profits are safe!

You might wonder how this helps the environment.  On the other hand, you might have stopped asking that question after Liberal MPs Ken Boshcoff and Martha Hall Findlay have already explained that no one expects any actual environmental benefit from the carbon tax.

Stephane Dion: Underwhelming performance in Guelph

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion was in Guelph this past week.

It was not an impressive performance.

Oops: Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay admits to Liberal greenwashing

Liberal Party MP Martha Hall Findlay talks about Stephane Dion's plan for a carbon tax.  The carbon tax will save the planet, right?  We'll be encouraged to consume less energy, right?

According to Findlay, there's no way to really know, or to be sure if it's really working.

Still, that's no reason not to impose a tax on Canadians.

Jennifer Wright to sue Liberals despite veiled threat from Garth Turner

Stephane Dion and the Liberals ignored a cease-and-desist letter from Jennifer Wright of Green Shift Inc., over the use of the name "Green Shift" to describe the Liberal carbon tax.

As a result, the Liberals are about to get sued.  We don't know by how much, but it'll be over $2 million.

And this despite Garth Turner's veiled threat to dig around her private life if she went ahead with the lawsuit.

Stephane Dion to shut down the oilsands?

Stephane Dion is trying to convince an interesting cross-section of people that his carbon tax is a good idea.

These people aren't interested in taxes though.   They want Stephane Dion to shut down the oilsands completely.

Ecological harmony: Who are the real villains?

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion is prepared to tax the oil operations of Alberta and Saskatchewan, to punish them for being the source of so much carbon dioxide that is wrecking the planet.

Kyoto (the protocol, not Stephane Dion's dog) demands it.

It makes no such demand of countries like India. 

It doesn't seem fair, at first glance.  Take a deeper look, and it's grossly unfair.

And I mean gross.

Does David Suzuki sound nervous to you?

It wasn't too long ago when David Suzuki was urging young people to find ways to imprison politicians who don't interpret scientific evidence in the same way Suzuki does.

With polls showing a majority of people in British Columbia are against the provincial carbon tax, Suzuki has tried to play it a bit more casually.

The problem is that he comes off as nervous.  Like he's worried that the crowds aren't listening to him anymore.

No votes? Screw you!

Stephane Dion and the Liberals are looking more and more like the classic Liberal Party of years past, playing region against region based on vote potential.

The coming summer storm of carbon tax thunder

I don't have a simplistic computer model to use to predict the future.  I leave that sort of "science" to the global warming nutters.

But there are hints of what is coming.  I'm afraid it'll be loud and incessant.

Is Stephane Dion boiling the frog to create a new GST?

One thing that has been puzzling more and more is the way Stephane Dion speaks of his carbon tax changing people's behavior with regards to using energy, while his actual plan seems to be predicated on no change in behavior at all.

Then, after chatting with a newspaper columnist acquaintance of mine, it hit me.  Stephane Dion is boiling the frog.

Why didn't I see it before?

Stephane Dion and the questionable size of his reduction predictions

I wrote a post recently in which I tried to understand just how much the carbon tax being proposed by Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion would reduce emissions.  In his plan, he predicts $15 billion in revenue from a tax of $40 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions paid on fuels.

After struggling with the numbers, and a couple of false starts, I came to the conclusion that the emissions predicted in Year 4 of Stephane Dion's new tax regime are not any different from the emissions today.

I thought that odd, but then maybe it was reasonable.  Perhaps Stephane Dion figures that four years is not enough time to see the effect of a new universal tax on energy.  It takes time for factories to shut down and move to Mexico.

But in an interview with the editorial board of Sun Media, Stephane Dion says there will be large reductions by 2012 (the impilicit assumption being that he can implement a tax in 2009).

That doesn't make sense. 

Skipping the problem of replacing the fuel source

I swing between amusement and frustration when I read comments from well-meaning environmentalist types who think that if all bought electric cars, we wouldn't need oil.

It belies a fundamental ignorance of how the world works, and makes me nervous about these people ever being in charge.

In particular, I'm looking at a comment on the Liberal Party discussion board, in which the person posting says the world will be so different in 10 years when we stop using petroleum to power transportation having switched to electricity.

I shake my head.  What did they teach these people in science class in high school?

Why the Liberal Party must be sued over the Green Shift name

This situation that has developed over the name "Green Shift" is not as amusing as it seemed to be at first.  The name "Green Shift" is a trademark, and the Liberal Party lifted it in an attempt to make Stephane Dion's carbon tax seem more palatable.

But the company that owns the trademark is mad, and is planning to sue.

They should sue.  In fact, they have to.

Stephane Dion's carbon tax means more imports from massive polluter China

Stephane Dion's carbon tax plan promises to apply a tariff against the carbon content of imported goods.

As with everything else in the carbon tax plan, there are no details, just promises that Canada would benefit.  Ignore that.  like everything else in the carbon tax plan, it's nonsense.  When you actually think about what the tariff could mean, it's clear that Canadians would suffer.

And like everything else in the carbon tax plan, it will do nothing to limit emissions.

Carbon tax: Letting Halifax airport crumble away

Peter Duffy, writing in The Chronicle Herald, suggests that keeping the runways at Halifax's international airport in good condition is a waste of time.  Fuel prices means fewer flights.

What's the point of having an airport?

If Stephane Dion gets to implement his carbon tax, I wonder just what else we can just throw away as being unnecessary.

Working through the carbon tax numbers

OK, I've got a question.  Where the heck did Stephane Dion get his numbers for Canadian fuel consumption?

I'm trying to see where his numbers come from, and they seem way too high.

Update: No wait, I forgot to factor for the increase in weight for carbon dioxide.  That makes the numbers work.

Update: No wait, the numbers have a problem after all.  I successfully showed that the 2007 fuel consumption rates match up with the carbon tax revenues predicted by the Liberals in Year 4 of the plan.  But that's not right either.  The whole point is that fuel usage would drop.  Why aren't they dropping?  What's the point of this tax?  Just to raise money?

[This is a reposted version of the first post, now deleted.]

Will I pay the GST on the carbon tax?

The carbon tax announcement is coming.  All questions will be answered.  Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion will make it all clear.

Well, I have a question.  Am I going to be taxed on the tax?

Oily bugs: Scaling up tiny refineries

With so much of the planet's technology based on crude oil, it seems pointless to think about getting off oil.  That's just a fact.  The real solution to rising oil prices is more supply, and there is always buzz around artificially creating oil using microorganisms.  Of course, the devil is in the details. 

Not the little details, but the really big ones.

Interprovincial cap-and-trade: An opportunity being squandered?

The reaction of the government to a proposed cap-and-trade system being set up between Ontario and Quebec seems short-sighted to me.  Isn't there a way to make this work in a way that everyone wins?

Elizabeth May jokes about suicide

Green Party leader Elizabeth May seems to lack the most basic ability all successful politicians have to pause in order to consider her words carefully, and then answer a question without offending people or making light of a serious subject.

In an interview with the Guelph Mercury editorial board, Elizabeth May says she was close to slitting her wrists after listening to the leader's debate during the last election, finding the politicians remarks too well packaged.

The editorial board was taken aback by Elizabeth May's flippant reference to suicide, and as a result, Elizabeth May spoiled an opportunity to deliver the Green Party message.

It makes me wonder just why the Green Party puts up with her.  It isn't the first time this has happened.

Predicting Stephane Dion's carbon tax

Stephane Dion is going to roll out a carbon tax plan.  Canadians are praising it or denouncing it, without any idea of what the plan is actually going to be.

Let's try and figure it out.  Just the base carbon tax rate and nothing more.  It's not really all that hard to do.

Carbon tax issue evidence of Stephane Dion's growing problems inside the Liberal Party

After all the talk about a carbon tax, my mind keeps coming back to the same thing.  Why are we talking about it at all?  I mean, The Liberal Party has not released any details.  But by allowing the Conservatives to know ahead of time that an announcement concerning a carbon tax is in the very near future, the Conservatives have been able to frame the issue.

You would think Liberals would have learned that by now.

The story was apparently leaked.  But I thought that maybe, just maybe, the Liberals were being clever.  Perhaps this was a trial balloon.

Then I looked at it again, and realized there is no way this could be a trial balloon.  It was a leak, plain and simple.  Worse, it was designed to hurt Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion.  Worse still, the leak came from an Ontario Liberal, and not a Quebec Liberal, which means Stephane Dion seems to be no closer to solving his leadership problems, and indeed his problems might be growing.

A 1993 analysis of consumption taxes done for the Liberal Party

Ever wonder why a consumption tax (like a carbon tax) is politically unpopular compared to a sales tax (like the GST)?

The Liberals under Jean Chretien wondered that in 1993 when they took over from the Progressive Conservatives.  Jean Chretien had promised to eliminate the GST, but of course, he didn't.  Different alternatives to the GST are discussed in this report.  It is very interesting to note what the researcher had to say about consumption taxes, and it helps understand why we still have the GST.

Of course, under a government led by Stephane Dion, we would get the worst of both worlds.

The carbon tax and the cost of gas

Stephane Dion's carbon tax is not a gas tax, or so members of the Liberal Party are supposed to say.  Too bad not all the Liberals got the memo.

Stephane Dion's carbon tax will succeed

I haven't written about Stephane Dion's carbon tax idea, not since it was announced that he intended to make a carbon tax a cornerstone of a Liberal Party platform in the next election.

I wanted my thoughts to gel, to consider just what such a tax could do, good and bad.  I'm glad I waited, because as I began to peal away the layers, I realized that a carbon tax is really unlike any tax every imposed by a government.  It is guaranteed to succeed.

Stephane Dion signs the KYOTOplus pledge

Environmentalists ought to be pickier.  They ought to be more careful about who they call their friends.

Bragging about how Stephane Dion signed a petition makes these particular environmentalists look pathetic.

That green scarf takes on a distinctly yellowish hue

Stephane Dion sported a green scarf at the Liberal Party convention.  He was the green choice, the former environment minister who was going to lead the Liberal Party into taking ownership of the Green agenda in Canada.  Stephane Dion would lead the Liberals back to power on a wave of environmental sensibility.

Well, push came to shove, and Stephane Dion is showing his true colours.  It isn't green, but a very obvious yellow streak.

David Suzuki and uncomfortable warming

If you listen to David Suzuki, you'd hear about how human activity is causing the Earth to warm up.  Specifically, how a mere 30 million Canadians are supposed to shoulder a large amount of the blame.

His rhetoric has become increasingly heated, ironically.

Well, it seems that the heat generated by his latest comments has caused David Suzuki to throttle it back. 

David Suzuki: Be skeptical of scientists

David Suzuki has been in hot water this week over comments he made (on two different occasions) that politicians ought to be jailed for expressing skepticism about climate change (specifically, about David Suzuki's view on climate change).

Go way back, and you encounter an entirely different David Suzuki.  This man pleaded for Canadians to be skeptical of science, to exert influence and oversight over the scientific community, and to be careful of the hidden agenda behind scientists and their theories.

I kid you not.

David Suzuki, Salt Cay, and low hanging fruit

There is something called going after "low hanging fruit".  When confronted with a large task, one approach is to go after the most easily solved problems first.

Engineers are often taught to do the opposite -- tackle the hardest problem first.  The reason is that you will almost certainly spend too much time on the low hanging fruit.  Such a problem is solved easily, of course, but you will try to do a complete a job as possible, to the point of gold-plating (that is, doing more than is necessary).  Often it is to avoid tackling the big problem while still looking like you're make progress towards reaching the overall goal.

The bad thing is that you've used up precious time you'll need to tackle the hard problem you've put off.  In fact, you are almost sure to fail now.

Environmentalists are like that.  They go after the low hanging fruit.  Kyoto is all about low hanging fruit.  Get the industrialized world to carry the load, since they have the technological prowess to make it happen, and the democratic institutions that can be used to compel politicians to go along.  On the other hand, tough nuts like India and China are deferred until some unspecified future time.  These countries and others like them present difficult problems -- a lack of sophisticated industrial infrastructure, huge energy-hungry populations, and most importantly in the cases like China, governments that are authoritarian or even dictatorial and have no reason to listen to anyone, not to their own people and certainly not to foreign busybodies.

So the foreign busybodies make excuses about why these countries are allowed to skip any effort to meet Kyoto targets, and they go after countries like Canada that contribute a tiny percent of green house gas emissions. 

The busybodies will waste a great deal of effort on Canada because Canada is a low hanging fruit.  China, on the other hand, continues to build coal-fired power plants daily.

But here's another example you might not know about.  The Turks and Caicos Islands are negligible when it comes to things like global warming, ocean pollution, ozone depletion, or anything else.  Environmentally-speaking, the impact on the ecology of these islands is zero.

But the government of this British dependency has declared that one tiny island that makes up this tiny place is going "green". 

And David Suzuki is flying down there to celebrate this achievement.

David Suzuki's web marketing company helps sell oil sands development

It's amusing to listen to David Suzuki.  David Suzuki wants politicians who are not avowed environmentalists thrown in jail.

Yeah, he's a loon.

But how can David Suzuki sell his particular brand of eco-nuttiness?  Seriously, why does anyone listen to him? 

The answer is simple: money. 

He spends money on sophisticated marketing professionals.  His only concern is that these people succeed in getting him in front of the cameras and in the public eye where he can revel in his foam-flecked fury.

I don't think he really cares if anything gets done in favour of the environment.  I say that because the company he pays to help get his message out also takes money from several large oil sands concerns.  If David Suzuki was really committed to his enviro-jihad, he would make sure all his minions were as pure and virtuous as himself.

But instead, he takes money from his naive followers and hands it to people who work hard to promote oil sands development.

Better yet, he takes money from the oil sands developers themselves, and hands it to the people who work hard to promote oil sands development.

There's your saint of the environment.

Is David Suzuki going to fill the jails with the victims of his environmental jihad?

David Suzuki has definitely jumped the shark.  The environmental crusader has morphed into a fatwa-issuing green mullah.  Now it seems that if you don't listen to him, you should go to jail.

Rich people cars exempt from greenhouse gas rules

In Europe, new emissions rules are coming into effect, and no one is happy.

The automakers are upset because the rules are too stringent.

The environmentalists are upset because the rules are not stringent enough.

Regular people are upset because the cost of a car will go up significantly.

And rich people?  Oh, they're fine.  Their cars are exempt from the rules.

Joyce Murray is Stephane Dion's sort of environmentalist

Joyce Murray is the Liberal Party candidate fighting for the seat of Vancouver Quadra.  It is a strong Liberal seat, and no one would be surprised to see it go Liberal again.

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion would be especially pleased.  Not only would the Liberals retain a seat, Joyce Murray would bolster the Liberal reputation on the environment.  As an MLA in the BC legislature, Murray was the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection in Gordon Campbell's cabinet.

Like Stephane Dion, she didn't actually do much for the environment.  And that's a good thing for Stephane Dion should she win in Vancouver Quadra.  Stephane Dion does not need another MP in his caucus quietly doubting Dion's commitment to the environment.  Another pseudo-environmentalist would no doubt tell Stephane Dion just how much of a great environmental leader he is, without bringing up any uncomfortable facts.

Stephane Dion meets the Kyoto Fairy

Stephane Dion believes Canada cannot meet the Kyoto targets.

Stephane Dion believes Canada can meet the Kyoto targets.

Who knows what Stephane Dion believes?  Who knows who tells Stephane Dion what to believe?

Does Stephane Dion believe in anything?

Maybe he believes in fairies.

When environmentalists lobby for the chemical industry

This is a piece about the flexibility of Chris Benedetti. He is simultaneously a Liberal Party supporter, a head of several environmental organizations, a consultant encouraging companies to work hard to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, and a lobbyist for a Washington-based bromine industry front group dedicated to keeping the earth-warming chemical compounds that drive their profits from being subjected to further regulation in Canada.

Yeah, that last one is the one that is supposed to make you do a double take.

Punishing Canada for not bending over for China at Bali

Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are protecting the world against Chinese bullying rooted in the chronic Chinese gripe about being the victim of humiliation. The Chinese have made it clear that environmental treaties are a tool for punishing the West. Stephen Harper figures any environmental treaty designed around that premise will not be good for Canada or for the environment.

And for that, Stephane Dion and Jack Layton have labelled Stephen Harper the enemy.

A dionesque threat delivered by email

I've received a dionesque threat delivered by email.

Nagging worries that Stephane Dion is hoping to embarrass Canada at Bali

Normally, I would have no concerns whatsoever that Stephane Dion will embarrass the Canadian government in Bali, where there is a major UN conference is taking place concerning climate change. The leader of the Liberal Party has taken it upon himself to go to Bali, though it is not clear why. As the leader of the opposition, Stephane Dion cannot speak on behalf of the government or explain government policy. He has promised in the past never to criticize the Canadian government in front of foreign dignitaries.

Indeed, in a recent incident, Stephane Dion had an opportunity to criticize Prime Minister Stephen Harper to a foreign official, and yet he was very careful to avoid doing so.

At the time, I congratulated him on it, and based on that incident, I have every confidence Stephane Dion will not disappoint me this time.

And yet...I'm nervous. There are signs that Stephane Dion is planning to embarrass all of us.

Terrible news as weather deaths continue to drop

How will environmentalists succeed at terrifying people into following them by threatening death at the hands of planetary weather when the evidence shows a steady and dramatic decline in weather-related deaths?

The first thing, of course, is to point out that Big Oil is somewhere in the picture. That way the environmentalists can skip trying to actually refute the data.

Canada's drivers and chronic speeding

Canada is a country filled with people who like to drive fast. How do we discourage them? I have an idea that takes a different approach to punishment, and so might have some success while the traditional approaches are running out of gas.

And that's where I'm focused -- on the gas.

Who does Elizabeth May blame for missing the Kyoto commitments?

Elizabeth May blames Prime Minister Stephen Harper for Canada being in the situation in which it finds itself, and that is that Canada cannot meet the Kyoto commitments.

But Elizabeth May also blamed Stephane Dion, or so it seems.

A bit of a blooper, I think.

Kyoto was wrong to start with

Kyoto was a fundamentally stupid plan.

And its failure wasn't the fault of George W Bush or of Stephen Harper.

Heresy has reached new levels. Gwyn Prins of the London School of Economics and Steve Rayner at Oxford would run the risk of being burned at the stake by enraged environmentalists if it weren't for the carbon dioxide that would be released as a result.

Elizabeth May pays down her debt to Stephane Dion by selling out Kyoto

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, listened to the Conservative Throne Speech. In it, the government made it clear that Kyoto was no longer a concern. The targets could not be reached, and there was no interest in even trying.

Her response to Mike Duffy during an interview last night? That's fine. We don't need to fight an election over this.

You could almost see the strings reaching up to the rafters where Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion was pulling on his Green puppet.

Stephane Dion, Paul Martin, Kyoto, and who to believe

Jean Chretien's memoirs are of great interest with regards to Canada's recent political history, but what of the present?

Clearly, the element of the yet-to-be-officially-released memoirs of immediate interest is Jean Chretien's allegation that Canada was on track to meet Kyoto Protocol commitments until Paul Martin took over, with Stephane Dion as his environment minister.

But what might most significant is the apparent insignificance of Stephane Dion.

Jean Chretien, public revelations, and stupid f*cking idiots!

Jean Chretien's memoirs are coming out, and boy, don't they just play into the whole "don't air Liberal Party problems in public" issue in a big way?

Stephane Dion is not going to be served well by the assertion by Jean Chretien that Canada was on track to meet Kyoto commitments until Paul Martin took over as prime minister in December 2003. Paul Martin quickly put Stephane Dion into his cabinet as environment minister in July 2004. Dion served in that role until the fall of Paul Martin's government nearly two years later in February 2006.

Sure sounds to me that Jean Chretien's published memoirs are going to put the blame for Canada's poor environmental performance right on Stephane Dion's shoulders.

And we already know that people who go public with problems inside the Liberal Party are "stupid f*cking idiots".

Stephane Dion's calculatedly impotent indignation

News from the CBC is that the upcoming Throne Speech will make it a guiding principle of this government that the Kyoto targets are not attainable. Stephane Dion will have to backtrack on a year's worth of statements if he is going to arrange that the Throne Speech not be defeated and so avoid an election he doesn't want to fight.

So Dion is likely to let the Throne Speech pass, counting on a combination his own Liberals staying home as per Dion's orders, while being protected by a phalanx of Conservative MPs voring for the Throne Speech. Safely protected by the Conservatives, Liberal leader Stephane Dion will be able to speak loudly and strongly in favour of Kyoto and how he has the solution.

Lots of words, but no action. Deliberately no action.

Sounds like the definition of political impotence.

Why Kyoto is doomed

Put aside that the Kyoto Protocol is fatally flawed, based on bogus number that even supporters admit would have little impact on their own much-vaunted (but equally useless) computer model predictions. The fact is, where it matters, no one cares.

China is exempt from the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, given a pass because it argued that the "world's factory" needed more growth to finish emerging from the status of a developing country. Sure. Whatever. But even if China, as one of the planet's largest producers of greenhouse gases, was included in Kyoto, it wouldn't have mattered.

As illustrated on Car Free Day, one of the world's most carefully controlled populations under the rule of one the world's most enduring dictatorships simply ignored the government-supported environmental initiative.

Jack Layton will protect Canada's claim to the North by making it cold

NDP leader Jack Layton will protect Canada's claim to sovereignty in the Far North by making sure it stays cold.

No, I don't know what one has to do with the other either.

Stephane Dion must topple Stephen Harper's government

Liberal leader Stephane Dion has no choice. The threats must end. If Stephane Dion can make Kyoto work with his plan then he must force an election and just do it, instead of threatening to possibly call an election if Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't implement Stephane Dion's plan on Dion's behalf.

Did Stephane Dion hand over the secret keys to ClimateForChange.ca?

I keep coming back to the SSL certificate. Why is the SSL certificate for ClimateForChange.ca listed to be the certificate for stephanedion.ca? The more I think about it, the more uneasy I become. There is just no way that should have happened by accident. What I do understand of how certificates work suggests that this connection is a big deal.

Just how closely connected are ClimateForChange.ca and the federal Liberal Party?

ClimateForChange.ca s going to sue the federal government over its Kyoto Plans. An example of grassroots action? Or a political move by one of the opposition parties?

But how could that be if ClimateForChange.ca is an independent non-profit group?

Environmental groups boost for the Liberals, not to save the planet but to turn back time

Environmentalist groups seem to boost for the Liberal Party regardless of the poor Liberal record on the environment. Some people are starting to wonder exactly why that is. If they read my blog, they would know. But I don't mind explaining it again. It has nothing to do with the environment, of course. It has everything to do with money, and more accurately, going back to a time when money was dolled out with no strings attached.

The limits of environmental action as defined by Severn Suzuki

The world is about to collapse. The environment is on the verge of complete and utterly irreversible destruction.

We are all going to die!

But there are still limits to what humans can be asked to do avoid this calamity.

Well, there are limits to how much Severn Suzuki is willing to do. The rest of us, of course, have to carry the load.

I'm more environmentally sensitive than you think

I've given environmentalists a hard time on this blog. David Suzuki in particular. I've also made it clear that I find the whole theory that global warming is (a) actually happening and (b) the result of human activity and (c) subject to modification by humans if it is really happening very suspicious. I've also made it clear that I am in no position to absorb huge cost of living increases driven by a theory that a lot of respected scientists think is completely bogus.

You might think I gleefully emit greenhouse gases in copious amounts while dumping toxic chemicals into the local water table, or something equally evil.

I don't. In fact, we focus a lot on reducing the waste created by our large family, while at the same time helping out those who need help. Let me tell you about Freecycle.

Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion want Canadians to be gas poor

Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion want Canadians to be gas poor. Pay more and more for gas until they can't afford much else. Maybe this is not what they really want to happen, but it will be the consequence of raising taxes on gas. Gas consumption is pretty much inelastic unless you are wealthy and have a lot of disposable income. Trying to choke off that disposable income used for driving by affluent Canadians will result in choking the rest of us...literally.

Entropy and Population and the Unspoken Solution

Just some thoughts about entropy and energy usage and how it links to population and the environment.

David Suzuki says Canadians want to pay more taxes; Angus Reid says otherwise

David Suzuki says Canadians are willing to pay, nay, are demanding that they be forced to pay, carbon taxes. An Angus Reid poll suggests exactly the opposite.

Canada's large measure of green credit

Environmentalists moan and groan that Canada is not doing it's share when it comes green issues. The fact is that Canada has plenty of green credit to spend.

Carbon offsets are less like indulgences and more like tithes

John Oakley's column in the National Post relates carbon offsets to indulgences. I think he's on to something, but I think his analogy is off. Carbon offsets are less like indulgences and more like tithes paid to the Church of Green.

Organic food and the bitter taste of success

Fans of organic food are bitter because the commercial success has attracted big business. But of course, they reserve their anger for big business. What about the organic food producer who was all too happy to sell out for a handsome profit?

Liberal Party environment policy authored in part by corporate communications expert for the Coppertone people

When the Liberal Party fashioned its environmental policy, would it suprise you to learn that one of the people called out for special mention in helping complete that work is in fact the Director of Communications for the multinational manufacturer of Coppertone sunscreen products? That company has, for over ten years, been working very hard to ensure that North American consumers are obsessed with the question of sun exposure, while at the same time making sure that those same consumers understand that the only protection against UV rays comes from the liberal application of sunscreen, instead of, say, wearing a light shirt.

Schering, the pharmaceutical in question, has been attacked for taking climate science, as imprecise and questionable as it is, and spinning it a certain way for corporate profit. I am curious if Liberal Party environmental policy was similarly nudged this way and that in order to profit the shareholders of Schering. The real question, of course, is why the Liberals would have given such a key position to a senior member of this particular corporation.

Just what is up with Cullis-Suzuki's Skyfish Project?

The Skyfish Project is an "internet thinktank" set up by Severn Cullis-Suzuki, David Suzuki's daughter. But it is really a parked domain with spammy links for alien t-shirts and bizarre pseudo-Catholic end-of-time prophecies.

David Suzuki: Hypocrite or Henpecked?

In my first post on uber-environmentalist David Suzuki, I wonder if he sees himself as some sort of Medieval lord.

In my second post, I wonder if he is just a garden variety hypocrite.

In this post, I look into just what drives David Suzuki to do what he does.

More accurately, who drives him.

David Suzuki's grand Tangwyn property is a struggle for him

Consider David Suzuki's grand property (named "Tangwyn") on Quadra Island for him and his wife in contrast to my disgusting excess of a three-bedroom detached home on a tiny lot for a household of six. I suppose environmentalism has been good to Suzuki. Everything I hear suggests the world Suzuki wants me to have doesn't include a vast forested estate.

But then Suzuki says he struggles with what it means to be an environmentalist.

Must be so hard for him.

Environmentalism, the Middle Class, the Middle Ages, and Dynasties

Ever notice that the world the environmentalists want us to live in is a lot like Medieval Europe? And in more ways than you might think?

Will Yvo de Boer be declared an apostate by the head priests of the Church of Kyoto?

This senior UN official, Yvo de Boer, seems satisfied that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have a satsifactory approach to the Kyoto Protocol. What is the punishment for apostasy from the Church of Kyoto?

Probably watching David Suzuki videos.

Brush your teeth...and die! Chinese toothpaste is 5% antifreeze

Breaking: Ersatz Colgate toothpaste in the United States might contain DEG. And I just bought a suspicious tube of toothpaste in my local dollar store in Canada.

Brush your teeth...and die! Thanks to Chinese quality controls. On the other hand, the toothy grin on the skull-and-crossbones has never looked so bright and shiny.

Al Gore to Canadian teachers -- don't sweat the facts

Al Gore's Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth is being shown in Canadian schools, often over and over again. Kevin Libin of the National Post makes the point that the film has problems with the facts, making it a questionable educational tool. But if you look at the curricula guide that accompanies the film, it becomes clear that facts aren't all that important.

Not all Liberals agree with Stephane Dion's ideas or are fans of his record

Stephane Dion is going to have some fun in the next election if the Liberal Party is going to field candidates who are on record as severely criticizing the leader. This is not the case of long-time Liberals who no doubt have critical comments on record. I'm talking about one Liberal in particular, Drew Adamick, hoping to win the nomination in Cariboo-Prince George.

Chinese culture of lies endangers their economy

The Chinese are terrified that the pet food scandal will cause their food exports to collapse in the face of angry Western consumers.

What they don't get is that China primarily exports lies. We ought to close the doors until that changes.

Will Dalton McGuinty tell Jesse Fontaine to flick off?

Young Jesse Fontaine is very concerned about the way the Ontario government has decided to communicate with teens. I don't expect he'll get an answer, but I think he's posed some interesting questions.

Didn't Jeff Monaghan admit to being an anarchist?

Jeff Monaghan, the former Environment Canada contract employee arrested for allegedly leaking secret government documents, has written a letter to a newspaper taking issue with being labelled an anarchist. Has the media made a mistake, extrapolating from Jeff Monaghan's known associates to judge Monaghan by the company he keeps? Or is there some sort of documentary evidence in which Monaghan states that he is an anarchist?

Jeff Monaghan: Stephen Harper is a radical neocon theocrat, the media is too even-handed, and Environment Canada is all style, no substance

In his own words, on his radio show.

Jeff Monaghan's Monday Morning Radio Show

Is Jeff Monaghan a quiet and withdrawn character driven to act by the hypocrisy of the Harper government, as some would allege? I'm not so sure, if only because quiet and withdrawn characters don't host talk radio shows.

Anarchist punk band uncomfortable with the media attention

I suppose it's one thing to be part of an anti-globalization riot, where you are lost in the mass of rock-throwing mask-wearing anonymity. But when the media focus is like a laser-beam, then anarchists get nervous.

The Suicide Pilots, the band for which Jeff Monaghan plays the drums, has issued a statement.

Anarchists discover authority

Just an amusing aside about how, despite their best efforts to be the human equivalent of chaos, when push comes to shove, anarchists fall back on heirarchy and order in order to save their hides.

Jeff Monaghan, Anarchists, and Spring Cleaning

Jeff Monaghan was arrested for leaking the government's environment plan. Is this anarchist posing as a government worker the only dirt-worshipping, granola-eating, tree-hugging druid wannabe who got by the background checks?

The Cost to Flick Off

The Flick Off campaign has cost $500,000, and will cost more for T-shirts, rings, action kits, and so on. But in this Web 2,0 world, there are online costs to this global warming campaign that a lot of people think was not well thought out.

Stephane Dion buys kudos from environmentalists fearful of accountability

Follow the money, and suddenly it becomes perfectly clear why Canadian environmentalists are so happy to heap praise on Stephane Dion, who as environment minister was an unmitigated disaster. And why they are happy to blame Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the mess that Dion left behind.

Garth Turner hopes we'll forget about his stand on Kyoto

Garth Turner's confusing stand on the environment. Captured in print, no less.

Angus Reid poll shows Tories trusted on environment over Liberals

An Angus Reid poll shows that Stephen Harper's Conservatives are trusted over the Liberals when it comes to the environment. And when you artificially change the rules of the game to favour Stephane Dion, he only barely squeaks out a win.

David Suzuki vs Steve Shriver: Talkers talk, walkers walk, and some just run

Part of my problem with David Suzuki is the credibility gap. Driving a diesel bus around the country and flying to all points to tell the rest of us to lay off the gas is not the way to make a believer out of me.

On the other hand, actually running the 260 miles under your own organically-powered steam to prove a point gets my attention.

David Suzuki's air travel restrictions -- only one-and-a-quarter times around the globe this year

The David Suzuki Foundation responded to a survey to an NGO researching just how environmental groups were reducing air travel. But the travel itinerary of David Suzuki shows little sign of being throttled back.

Indeed, he's been traveling farther in recent years.

The ant-like world of David Suzuki

What would the world be like if David Suzuki had his way? We are to think that we would be living in harmony with nature, surrounded by butterflies and squirrels and such. But when you look for the clues, expend some analytical effort, and do a bit of reading, the reality is that the butterflies and squirrels will be happy, but you and I (or whoever is allowed to live) will be living a regimented communal existence, with little that we can call our own. If you don't like it, well, that's not really relevant. Your free will, and all that comes of that, like your opinions, is an illusion anyway.

You want the bear dead? Fine, you kill it

Animals rights activists want to kill an animal. A baby bear, in fact.

Why? Because it is being humiliated.

How? Well, the humans give it milk, and shelter, and attention. Wicked stuff like that.

Elizabeth May's clever move in taking on Peter MacKay

Elizabeth May, leader of Canada's Green Party, is planning to take on one of the Conservative Party's most powerful and popular MPs, Peter MacKay, in the next election.

Is she nuts? Hardly. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Stephane Dion's plan to fail

Stephane Dion's new plan for saving Canada from the sun (or whatever) involves -- wait for it -- a brand new government program! It's shocking that there are people in this day and age who don't understand that a government program can never achieve its goals. Not if those goals mean the end to the program.

Canadian "denier" threatened with death -- and it is not reported in Canadian news

A Canadian scientist questions the science of climate change, and he begins receiving death threats.

I read about it in a British newspaper. Isn't this newsworthy in Canada?

Environmental lobbying on the sly?

Young people are being encouraged to "adopt" an MP to push for action on the issue of climate change.

My question is just where does democratic participation end and formal lobbying begin. Has this group crossed the line?

And who is behind this group in the first place?

NDP wants to ban the incandescent light bulb

An NDP MP is putting forward a bill to phase out incandescent light bulbs.

Bravo!

The poll David Suzuki doesn't want you to see

Canadians are not supportive of Kyoto, according to his poll taken by the David Suzuki Foundation.

A poll that has disappeared.

Don't worry. You can view the poll here, and even add your vote as well.

According to David Suzuki, Kyoto targets are always achievable

When David Suzuki was asked last month if Canada's Kyoto targets are achievable, he said it would be difficult. I have a problem with this. My problem is that two years ago, an eminent proponent for Kyoto said at the time meeting the Kyoto targets would be difficult. So seven years has turned to five, and Canada's emissions have grown, not shrunk. In effect, we've taken a difficult task, increased the scope dramatically, and signficantly compressed the timeline.

The project manager in me says the window for success has slammed shut.

Unless that other climate change expert was wrong in characterizing the situation as so tough two years ago. Maybe it was well within reach. It has only been between then and now that it has become a tough problem. If so, it might not be too late. But I don't think that's the case. I think this person was right, and that reaching the Kyoto targets two years ago was a very difficult task, which is also why I think it's impossible now.

And I also know David Suzuki would never disagree with a word this person says.

David Suzuki vs a Terrorist: A difference of degree

In the debate over the environment, it is often a difference of degrees.

I'm not talking about the obvious -- is the earth warming by 5 degrees or 2 degrees or not at all.

I'm talking about something entirely different. But it also just a difference in degrees.

An article from 2005 makes a direct reference to Stephane Dion's pressure from lobbyists

I added some extra elements to my bromine timeline, and in doing so, stumbled across an article in The Walrus in which the author Paul Webster, makes an explicit reference to Stephane Dion's lack of action because of intense lobbying.

A timeline of environmental (in)action

In doing to cleanup research on the question of bromine lobbying by key Liberals, I assembled an interesting timeline. It is revealing.

For five bucks you can be an environmental hero just like David Suzuki

I decided to figure out just how much it will cost uber-environmentalist David Suzuki to drive his monster bus across the country and still be carbon neutral.

The results were surprising, and frankly, they made me laugh at the whole Suzuki circus.

Kyoto targets an unachievable fiction: Liberal insiders

By 2012, Canada's emissions must be 6% below 1990 levels in order to meet the Kyoto targets. Of course, we all know that in the years since the Liberals ratified the treaty in 2002, emissions have risen by over 30%. As Stephane Dion has plaintively cried, priorities were elsewhere. It wasn't his fault.

Actually, he's right. No one could meet the targets. Eddie Goldenberg, a senior Liberal advisor, has revealed today that the government of Jean Chretien always knew that the targets were unachievable. Worse yet, another source explains that the targets were set in a completely capricious manner, unconnected in any way to any kind of science.

It seems to me that the sooner Stephane Dion realigns his priorities, the better. He's a fool if he continues to carry the standard of Kyoto, now understood to be an utter fiction, and foisted upon him by his Liberal Party predecessors who no longer have to answer for their decisions.

Conservative's new Chemical Management Plan: Stephane Dion's lousy first week just got worse

Stephane Dion has had a rocky start as leader of the Liberal Party. Most of the energy coming out of the leadership convention has been expended on the question of citizenship. And now his number one reason for being prime minister -- to save the environment -- has taken a blow as the young Conservative government of Stephen Harper has released detals on a new initiative to regulate dangerous chemicals.

At least one environmentalist points out that the plan is long overdue. One guess to remember who the minister of the environment was for nearly two years before the Conservatives came into power.

DDT and the sum of all fears

The World Health Organization has approved the use of DDT as a means of controlling malaria, a disease the kills over a million Africans every year. But despite the approval from the WHO, some in Africa are opposing its use. Not because they fear it won't work, Not because they fear that DDT poses a threat to humans. But because they fear the fear of others far removed from either DDT or malaria.

Greens vs Gaia

The Gaia Hypothesis is one of those ideas that has been shamelessly abused. Now the man who developed it is delivering a smackdown on those people who, until now, have revered him.

Environmentalists on Mars?

What if there are Martians, for real?

Word of the Day: "Foodist"

In reviewing the news, I came across the story of Tre Arrow, eco-terrorist, in custody in BC, awaiting a decision on an extradition request from the US.

What can be said that hasn't been said before about US deserters hiding out in this country? I was going to dismiss this one and move on, but then I noticed this:

Tre Arrow is a foodist.

Angry in the Great White North by Steve Janke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. Based on a work at stevejanke.com.