Do They Breath Carbon Monoxide, And That's Why They Love Pollution?

The other Bush administration, um... I mean, the Harper Government here in Canada is becoming well known as anti-Kyoto Protocol, environment-hating, oil industry mouthpieces (remind you of anyone who's name starts with a "Duh" and ends with a "Bya"?), but now they're being painted in hypocritical non-green colours for planning to chair an international meeting on climate change when Canada's greenhouse gas emissions are 35% above the Kyoto targets for 2012.

Does it strike anyone else as ironic that our Environment Minister (Rona Ambrose) seems to be anything but?

Ambrose is obviously not very good at math either, since in the above Globe article she says that:

"Our government is being honest and transparent with Canadians about the mess that the Liberals left us with when it comes to our Kyoto targets. Today we are going to release Canada's greenhouse-gas inventory and it will show that Canada now is 35 per cent higher than the Kyoto targets... to put that into perspective, that would mean that today we would have to take every train, plane and automobile off the streets in Canada. That is not realistic and I ask the honourable member, is that the kind of solution he thinks is a good idea?"

I think that is an excellent idea, actually. Okay, it may not be realistic, but if you want to reduce greenhouse emissions by 35%, it doesn't mean taking every car off of the roads. It means cleaning things up by 35%. It means offering incentives to industries to reduce pollution. It means encouraging Canadians (especially in urban centers like Toronto) to consider transportation options other than their car.

Allow companies to provide transit passes to all their employees for a tax deduction. Fund public transit expansion with increased gas taxes. Encourage multi-purpose land zoning so that people can work and shop within walking and/or biking distance of their homes.

It's definitely not rocket science if an average joe like me can come up with simple, effective ideas.

blog comments powered by Disqus