GreenDude

This was sent to me by my good friend Vanessa. I’m sure that you’ll see this many times across many blogs over the next couple of days, but I think it’s worthwhile, so you’re going to see it here too.

Dear friends,

Time is running out to prevent catastrophic global warming, and a historic UN summit in Bali has just a few days left to hammer out an agreement. But instead of helping out, Canada is actually sabotaging the talks! On Saturday, experts gave Canada the global “fossil” award for the worst country in the world on climate change.

Enough is enough. Prime Minister Harper’s short-sighted and big oil-driven policy on climate change has become an attack on who we are. We’re supposed to be the nice guys, who try to do the right thing in the world.

There’s still a few days left to save Canada and the climate, but we need a massive democratic roar to remind our Prime Minister what Canada is all about, and stop him from blocking the world at Bali. Click below to sign the petition and we’ll advertize the number of signatures we get in an ad campaign across Canada this week. Our goal is to get 100,000 people to sign in the next 3 days — one of the largest petitions in Canadian history. Click below and then forward this email to all your friends and family right away:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/another_canadian_climate_crime/1.php

Why is Harper doing this? The scientific debate is over, climate change is real and man-made. Studies show us that the costs of addressing climate change are FAR less than the cost of doing nothing. And experts agree that the ONLY way to get poorer countries to act on climate change is for richer countries to act first. Yesterday, Canada’s mild-mannered and most respected environmental scientist, David Suzuki, slammed our government’s spin on climate change as “humiliating” and “ludicrous”.

The truth is, Harper is following the line of his close ally US President Bush. They’re both pursuing the short-term profits of a few large oil corporations, and don’t care whether this wreaks destruction on the world as a result. We can’t let our government get away with this. A massive outcry this week could at least soften the Canadian position at Bali, so that we get out of the world’s way. Click below to sign up and then forward this email on!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/another_canadian_climate_crime/1.php

The vast majority of Canadians are hopping mad on this issue — we can win this. We just need to show Harper how serious we are that he reverse course. Sign up now and forward this email to everyone you know – we’ve got just 3 days to hit 100,000 signatures!

Thanks so much for pitching in, let’s pull out all the stops on this one,

With much respect and hope,

Ricken Patel,
Avaaz.org

PS – Here are links to some more info on this:

David Suzuki (the Nature of Things) calls the government’s spin on climate change “humiliating” and “ludicrous”
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/283829

The former editor-in-chief of CBC news discusses the damage done by Canada’s climate policy to our international reputation:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_burman/2007/12/canada_flounders_on_issue_of_c.html

The Fossil of the Day Award site:
http://www.avaaz.org/fossils

Hmm, looks like Tory MP Wajid Kahn is in a bit of trouble, but not for the reasons I would have thought.

A few weeks back I complained that Mr. Kahn was still doing ads for his Toronto car dealership while he was a sitting MP. Well the Ethics Commissioner set me straight on that point. However, pencil throwing NDP MP Pat Martin has discovered something even worse about the floor-crossing Member for Mississauga-Streetsville.

According to CBC.ca:

Ontario Conservative MP Wajid Khan has been charged with violating the Elections Canada Act.

Khan, who crossed the floor from the Liberals to the Conservatives in January of this year, is charged with exceeding his campaign expense limit by $30,000 and paying for some campaign expenses he wasn’t allowed to personally cover.

The charges stem from the 2004 election campaign, when Khan ran as a Liberal.

His former riding president and his car dealership, Dufferin Mazda, are also charged with paying for campaign expenses they weren’t supposed to cover.

“Some people treat the election financing rules [as] voluntary guidelines,” said NDP MP Pat Martin, who filed a complaint last January when he heard there were questions about how Khan financed his election campaign. “They’re not. They’re hard fast laws and there should be consequences. If not, it’s not fair to any of us.”

This revelation probably won’t do any real damage to the Harper Conservatives, since the incident occurred while Mr. Kahn was running for the Liberals 2 elections ago. It makes me wonder though why it has taken so long for this to come to light. Mr. Martin apparently learned of the questions about Mr. Kahn’s campaign financing in January ’07, right around the time that Mr. Kahn made his jump to the Tories.

Could it be that the Liberals knew about this situation all along and were keeping it quiet, only letting it out when Mr. Kahn stepped (way) out of line. Political backstabbing? Maybe. But a serious problem nonetheless. My guess is that while Harper will take a bit of a hit for not doing some due diligence on his new MP, the Liberals will take the bigger hit for not doing something about the situation before allowing Mr. Kahn to run in a second election for them.

The big winner… the NDP who now have a second scandal which, like the Shreiber/Mulroney affair, has the potential to do damage to both of their main political rivals in the House.

Although I rarely agree with anything written by Werner Patel, I do enjoy reading his blog. One of his latest posts caught my eye.

Has control over MPs and caucuses gone too far? While a certain degree of party discipline is certainly appreciated, the fact that each MP has a mind of his or her own should not be ignored.

Voters elect MPs to represent them and their ridings. No political party is a uniform block of just one line of thought, ideology or policy. The reason for having MPs is to have a diversity of opinion — including within the same party. The alternative would be to have only the four party leaders meet for regular coffee klatsches where the policies and laws for the country at large are hammered out.

Agreed. We, the voters, entrust 308 men and women with the responsibility of representing our interests in the House of Commons. Each MP has the duty to represent ALL of his/her constituents, not just the minority (usually) that elected them. While the party needs to have a focused strategy, that’s what caucus meetings are for. MPs should not be punished, à la Bill Casey, for voting in accordance with the best interests of their constituents.

Strangely, I seem to remember one party stating that they were all for making more votes free of the whip. Oh, yes, that would be these guys:

A Conservative government will:

• Make all votes in Parliament, except the budget and main estimates, “free votes” for ordinary Members of Parliament.

from Stand up for Canada: p.23

I guess Mr. Harper forgot about that one too.

(BTW I am aware that Mr. Casey voted against a budget bill, however he may have been relying on the word of his colleague Peter MacKay who said prior to the vote: “We will not throw a member out of caucus for voting his conscience. There will be no whipping, flipping, hiring or firing on budget votes as we saw with the Liberal government.” Ooops.)