Liberals and Kyoto

[harry_beast]

According to a recent article (Link and Link), the Liberals signed up for Kyoto knowing that Canada wouldn't meet its targets.

The previous Liberal government ratified the Kyoto Protocol knowing Canada wasn’t ready to take the tough measures needed to address climate change and would likely miss the deadlines for reducing emissions, says Eddie

Comments

[uncut_diamond]

In intergovernmental affairs.

[harry_beast]

Ah, I see. So, I guess he was a minister in the government that signed up Canada to a treaty to which the government had no intention of adhering.

[uncut_diamond]

You really don't know much about how Kyoto's going to be implemented, do you?

[harry_beast]

There seems to be a lot of that going around lately.

[uncut_diamond]

Oh and how much do you know about the regulation of trade and commerce?

[thanks4thefish]

You seemed to have missed the importance of the last sentence. Canada's have long favoured helping the environment, so long as they don't actually have to change their behaviour in any way. How many people who claim to be about saving the planet do you think drive SUVs, commute by car an hour/day to work, regularly buy products with more packaging then necessary, use air conditioners, I could go on.

It's not like the Liberals were turfed from office because of their inaction on climate change.

The hypocrisy of people dumping on the Liberals for not doing enough to help the environment by people who do little or nothing to alter their own environmentally damaging behaviour astounds me. But then, I guess people never want to miss out on a chance to feel superior.

[harry_beast]

The importance of the last sentence is not lost on me, I assure you, speaking as a person who takes transit to work and doesn't own a car. I know that many Canadians don't take individual action. That's why I'd like a government that provides leadership on the environmental front.

The Liberal approach of inaction and insincere commitment does, as you point out, reflect the apparent preference of some Canadians. The Liberals' approach to Kyoto while in government is understandable, from a political viewpoint.

However, if you object to hypocrisy, do you not find the Liberals' denunciations of the Harper government's failure to meet the Kyoto targets inconsistent with their earlier actions?

[thanks4thefish]

The most annoying part of the current rhetoric (which this post sadly propagates) is that neither the Libs nor the Cons have any right to claim the high ground on this debate. The Grits said all the right things and did little, while Conservatives stuck their heads in the sand and refused to acknowledge there was even a problem (including their first year in government). It's not like the Cons were decrying the Liberals for not doing enough for the environment when they were in opposition. So how does each side continually pointing out the past failures of the other side actually accomplish anything? Here's a novel idea: why don't both sides acknowledge that neither of them did what needed to be done previously, but each recognizes the need for action, and then we can have a debate about the best solutions moving forward.

This issue needs more than a childish round robin of I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I...which is all this post amounts to.

[dannnielle]

Here's a novel idea: why don't both sides acknowledge that neither of them did what needed to be done previously, but each recognizes the need for action, and then we can have a debate about the best solutions moving forward.

Idealism will eat you alive!

[harry_beast]

What bothers me is that they signed up Canada to a set of international agreements without making any serious attempt to see if it was even possible to meet the targets. Further, they didn't have any intention of making any serious attempt to honour the agreement. They signed a blank cheque, fully intending to see it bounce.

The Conservatives will make some attempt to meet the targets and doubtless get shrilly denouced by the opposition for falling short. If the Liberals get back into power, they'll also probably make some kind of attempt, but will also fall short of the draconian measures the treaty requires. The targets are probably unattainable, and Chretien knew it from the start.

[steelcaver]

Europe managed to hit the targets easily enough. The difference that Europeans have the good sense to just suck it up and get on with it, while Canadians sit and whine about what it's going to do to our precious economy.

[harry_beast]

Europeans dominated the Kyoto process and set targets for themselves that were easily achievable. Part of their strategy was to sabotage competing economies like the United States and Canada. The Liberals, who by their own admission knew the targets were unrealistic, walked into the trap leghold trap of Kyoto.

[_social_retard_]

Dude.. did yuo read the link you gave? Becasue the way im reading this hes saying that Canadians in fact did NOT want action on climate change, that Canada was NOT ready but that signing the accord was nessisary to get Canadians in the right mindset to start working towards the goal. Hes not saying that they signed it with no intention of trying. Hes saying they signed it knowing that they would probably fail trying but they they needed to try anyways so that later we could succeed.

P.S.

[_social_retard_]

It was blatently obvious even to myself that the bar was high, maybe even too high. People had no idea how they were going to follow through with it. I was shocked when I heard that they actualy agreed to it.

[harry_beast]

The fact that the Liberals are now blaming the Conservatives for failing to meet targets the Liberals never believed were achievable in the first place seems hypocritical to me, but there's more to it than that.

The government at the time should have educated and persuaded people to recognize the importance of the issue, explained what was needed to implement a solution and developed a series of manageable steps with which to reach the objective. Instead, it set up the Canada for probable failure to meet the treaty objectives in order to manipulate them into changing their minds. It was a dishonest and patronizing tactic.

[ringzero]

And Canadians fall for it every time...