Even Hef lets the Bunnies speak once in a while......

The smiling woman to your left is the Canadian Minister of the Environment, Ms. Rona Ambrose. I was going to make this blog a rant on how we have the most boring Prime Minister of any Prime Minister Canada has ever had. I was going to rant about the fact that on the day our Prime Minister and his government axed $17.7 million from the human resources department's Adult Learning and Literacy Skills Program as part of a wave of spending cuts. His wife Laureen was out on the streets of Ottawa, clad in a yellow T-shirt and handing out newspapers in the drizzle as part of a CanWest media company literacy promotion.

There is just so much to rant about when it comes to Mr. Harper and his Government.

But, my real concern/rant of late is about the Governments new "Clean Air Act" and the apparent lack of urgency that our Government appears to have in fixing our environment in general. It is quite concerning. It is clear that our Minister of the Environment has and is basically undermining our work with the Kyoto Agreement. Canada will miss its second deadline this week to put forward a Kyoto plan. Instead she decided to have a press conference with Prime Minister Harper on the Governments supposed "Clean Air Act". An act where Ms. Ambrose has opted for and suggests the use of Intensity-based targets rather than a ban on greenhouse gas emissions. This means environmental emissions would be relative to the economic output of various industries. That means even though individual emission limits for each barrel of oil or piece of coal could be lowered, if production increases, the overall amount of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants could grow.

Many environmentalists believe capping greenhouse gas emissions is key to tackling climate change. Critics of intensity-based targets say the approach allows heavily polluting industries, such as Alberta's oilsands, to continue to grow and pollute, while remaining under government-imposed limitations.

Hmm should we be suspicious that this woman is from Alberta? Should we be concerned that she wasn't allowed to discuss her plans at a recent press conference and that the Prime Minister did all the speaking for her. Should we be concerend that when on the hot seat about Kyoto and greenhouse gas emissions she blamed the previous government and further went on to state that the Liberal government had spent "at least $100 million" in foreign carbon credits. When the real number was, well, ZERO! And to think she's in charge of setting new policy on an issue that may be critical not just to Canada's international reputation, but also to the future state of the world.


Anyway, rather than me rant on anymore about it. Watch Rick Mercer's rant from this weeks show. "The Mercer Report" is a weekly show hosted by Rick and he is one of the great Canadian comedians and political satirists. He has a knack for clearly expressing what a lot of Canadians are thinking. Check out the video clip. If it doesn't load go to the Mercer Report and click on "Rick's rant for the week". I am lousy at setting up video links on this blog.


Quote of the Day:

“Whoever makes two ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before, deserves better of mankind, and does more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together” Johnathan Swift