Harper Watch: Harper and the Environment

I am going to be keeping my eye on our Prime Minister and what he does about the environment or how he is being judged by his government's performance on the environment.

In today's Toronto Star there are two very different articles.

One is a web forum:

How has Stephen Harper's Conservative minority government performed so far?

Here are two excerpts which specifically mention his treatment of the environment:

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has performed as expected. He fits the description of an emperor with no clothes, who continues to hoodwink the public and the media with doubletalk while he pursues his own agenda. He continues to renege on Kyoto... An intellectual? No. A charlatan." Mary Serniak, Toronto

I see very little positive from this government's performance - scandals, flip flops, mismanagement of major issues (e.g. climate change, the Afghan mission). This government needs a cabinet shuffle that includes replacing the Prime Minister. Mark Sturman, Bowmanville

The other article, which is accompanied by a photo op, is called:

Harper announces expansion of park in remote North

PM begins Arctic tour by increasing protection of springs, canyons at Nahanni reserve

"Fort Simpson, N.W.T. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off a three-day Arctic sovereignty tour yesterday by announcing the expansion of one of the country's most rugged, beautiful and remote national parks."

Unfortunately, the photograph which accompanied the article in the paper is not on the internet version of the paper. But here is the caption:

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper joked about an anticipated cabinet shuffle yesterday while touring Nahanni National Park, N.W.T., with Herb Norweigan, chief of the De Cho tribe, shown on the left in the photo. He playfully grabbed Environment Minister John Baird, centre, and pretended to pull him toward the drop over the 90-metre Virginia Falls. "That's one way of shuffling a cabinet," Harper said.

All three men are smiling in the photograph, especially Mr. Baird. I do not think I remember seeing him with a smile before.

Unfortunately, although most Canadians will be very pleased for additional land to be set aside as a reserve, what they really want from Harper and Baird is more action on Kyoto. If he is the real leader, which his attack adds on Dion implied,then he should not be taking the easy route and sitting back while Canadian mayors and the provinces are leading the way.

I think almost anyone else would have been more palatable than Mr. Baird as the Environment Minister, as right from the start he was always grimacing on camera and complaining and grumbling about everything. Right from the start, no one took Mr. Harper seriously on the environment because of who he had put in the portfolio, a cranky pitbull.

Since people with children are scared for them because of global warming and what the planet will be like when their children grow up to have families, and I am one of them, it would have been better even just for optics to put someone in the portfolio who was not a hothead, but someone a bit older with a family to think of - someone who may have had some motivation then to try to convince the Prime Minister to keep the future of their children in mind when making decisions about global warming. Wishful thinking on my part.

It is unfortunate Mrs. Harper cannot take that unfortunate beige jacket he has worn around the world, you know, the one with the two sleeves that are rolled up and get the sleeves shortened. Although I did notice him in another photograph in a navy suit and the sleeves were too long on that one, too. Surely, the Prime Minister can afford to get his sleeves shortened.

Although I wouldn't care about the sleeves, if he would just do Canada and everyone else a favour by taking a leap of faith and tackling more than he thinks may be possible where the environment is concerned. One more thing, but not about the environment, when I see Mr. Harper joking in the photograph with a tribal chief, I cannot help but think of what a miserable state Mr. Harper's government has left things for native people.

Human rights and the environment are my biggest concerns these days, and Mr. Harper has not done well with either issue. He should have done the difficult but right thing, years ago, and lobbyed the U.S. about releasing Omar Khadr home to Canada. Mr. Khadr was a child soldier when he was arrested. He is also now the only citizen of a western nation to still be imprisoned in Guantanamo. The actions Mr. Khadr took as a child soldier cannot in any respect be seen as a war crime, as the U.S. maintains. And regardless of whether Canadians feel sympathetic or not to his family, Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen.