I’ve always loved Mother Jones. It was with a heavy heart that I read their article today entitled “Blame Canada” in which the reasons for our new status as polluter #1 of the world are listed.

The Conservatives were elected in 2006 in the wake of a Liberal “sponsorship scandal”, which saw the government giving way too much money to sway the vote in federal favour during a referendum vote on whether or not Quebec would stay on as a part of Canada or separate into its own province. While this wasn’t the most savoury moment for the Liberal party, their stance on the environment was always an acceptable one.

The Conservatives have since completely murdered our international reputation as consistent upholders of the green movement. To my mind, these is far worse than the sponsorship scandal. In addition, they plan to further reduce climate change targets from their already laughingly low levels. The entire plan of the Harper government is to obfuscate and delay so that the Alberta oil companies, on whose dollar the Conservatives got into office, won’t have to spend any money to reduce their pollution levels.

What is really sad about this is that the Canadian public couldn’t really care less either, as evidenced by the Conservative lead in the polls, no matter how small. Canadians seem to be happy with the status quo and the lack of change that the Conservatives represent. I hope the public mood changes enough to oust the Conservatives out of office for good so that we can effectively target the polluters within our own borders.

While this led to the prank of the “Yes Men”, which I found both funny and nauseating at the same time, for the same reasons mentioned above.

Tags: conservatives climate change, mother jones canada, stephen harper climate change, yes men canada

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