Is Our Government Playing Ostrich
Written by Peter Ross
"We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality." - Ayn Rand
It has become clear to those who are paying attention to the world around us that we are quickly approaching the equivalent of an environmental brick wall. With global warming accelerating and a mass extinction looming, we can no longer put up with leadership that is prepared to turn a blind eye to the climate crisis and the catastrophic outcomes of avoiding dealing with this issue.
Climate change is not a someday issue, it requires immediate bold and decisive leadership to address the biggest threat to our national security and economy that we have ever seen. Global warming is getting worse, and more quickly than most scientists had warned. Yet in this context our current Conservative government's position of denial and avoidance is not onlyunconscious, but morally indefensible. The rest of the world is awake but the Conservative government seems to be in a prolonged nap on this issue. It is not asthough we have been out of the loop on this, just completely unresponsive. We don't have to look very far to see our neighbours' insights and actions on the issue. Many countries are working very hard at solutions and building new, more robust economies along the way; economies that are based on current and future needs. However, Canada has some of the weakest national government policies in the world – weaker than China and India (Climate Change Performance Index 2008).
Countries far and wide like Norway, New Zealand and Costa Rica have already committed to become carbon neutral.
The United Kingdom has already committed to ensuring that all new homes are zero carbon by 2016.
China already has stronger vehicle efficiency regulations than Canada is proposing.
Israel (with a population of 7 million) has committed to an all-electric car infrastructure by the end of 2011. They plan to have electric cars in mass production and half a million charging stations all across the country.
The United States currently offers a significant renewable energy incentive that is more than double Canada's.
With a land mass less than Newfoundland and Labrador, Germany already has over 20 times the installed wind power generation of Canada.
Through its very successful "feed-in tariff" program, Germany has expanded its renewable energy while at the same time creating almost 250,000 green jobs in the industry. As a result of these efforts electricity costs have risen less than $2.20 (CAD) per month for a typical home in Germany.
The government of Sweden has committed to build an "oil-free society" with the goal of tangibly reducing its use of oil products and ending its dependence on oil by 2020. Through various programs Sweden has already reduced oil for residential and commercial heating by 70% over the last 30 years.
If it was not such a serious issue Canada would be the laughing stock our international community. However, no one is laughing, they are just shaking their heads. I for one am embarrassed by our government's completely ignorant approach to the dominant issue of our time. They are prepared to hide from the truth like an ostrich with his head in the sand, rather than wake up and take proactive action to solve the problem that is staring us in the face. They would rather attack and discredit their critics than read the writing on all the walls around them.
Where does this leave Canada? We are not only far behind our international community, but we are in danger of being left behind in the environmental geo-economic revolution that will be part of the future. The rest of the world is not only awake but taking direct action on the climate crisis. They know it is serious business that affects all communities on the planet. It won't be long before the international community will not tolerate countries that are effectively ignoring this issue. There has already been talk about economic barriers for countries that are not pulling there weight on global warming.
This is a far cry from the proud Canadian heritage of helping to create the United Nations and numerous international peace keeping missions that placed Canada on the "good guys list" for many nations around the world. This reputation for doing the right thing has stood Canadian businesses and travelers in good stead around the world for over a generation.
Unfortunately it seems that the Conservative government is prepared to flush our international good will, along with the health and economic welfare of its citizens, down the toilet in order to defend their myopic ideology.
We can not afford to put up with blind leadership anymore. Canadians don't want to be left in the back waters of the international community. Canadians realize that without a healthy ecosystem we have nothing. That is what is at stake. Our current and archaic electoral system allows 1/3 of Canadians that voted for the Conservative party in the past to high jack the will of the 2/3 of Canadians that feel that the environment is critical to the health and wellbeing of this and future generations.
We have seen a marked increase in frustration with our political system in the emails we get at our website. Canadians are fed up with a government that does not speak for them.
Every time we have an election we have an opportunity to create a strong healthy and sustainable society that we can all be proud of. Web sites like voteforenvironment.ca are helping the silent majority in this country to find a voice on parliament hill. New political manifestations like the "Anything But Conservative" movement of strategic voting are also speaking to the dysfunction of our first past the post and non-proportional electoral system that allows a false majority in parliament with a minority of the popular vote. Organisations like Fair Vote Canada have been working on this issue for some time. And there is no time like the present. This is a time when the majority of Canadians need to stand up for what is right. In spite of the fact that it is like asking the fox to guard the hen house it is time to push our MP's to start work on a proportional representative electoral system for our country.
Our future may completely depend on our ability to have the values of the majority of Canadians reflected in future governments, which will have to steer us through the critical path required to deal with the profound effects of the climate crisis.
My grandfather used to say "there are no unimportant decisions". Never has the truth in this statement been more clear to me than it is today.
