The Conservative government in Canada — once a proud Tory tradition, now effectively GOP-lite — is slipping in the polls, after showing some gains during the summer.
The main reason for their difficulties? The laughable attempt to gussy up their hostility to living things and call it an environmental policy.
A brief refresher for non-Canadians: The long-ruling Liberal party was evicted from power earlier this year, largely based on allegations of corruption and a newly-resurgent Conservative party. The Conservatives, since taking power, have governed very much in the mold of Rove Republicans.
It’s not surprising, given their electoral homeland in oil-rich Alberta, that the Conservatives don’t intend to govern seriously when it comes to the environment. What is surprising is that the Canadian people seem to care.
Canada, despite some nice rhetoric, has never been the world’s most ecologically-conscious country. Our CO2 emissions are, per-capita, almost as bad as the U.S. (Per $ of GDP, they may even be worse.) For other forms of air pollution, it’s even worse. So it’s a mystery why the Canadian people would suddenly see the environment as such an important issue.
