Environment and Afghanistan
The two big news stories this week are Afghanistan and the Environment which do seem to be hurting the Tories a bit. Below I will summarize my opinion on each of them
Environment
A baby step in the right direction their plan, but still falls well short of what could be done. They seem to be doing the bare minimum here as I think 33% by 2025 as Gordon Campbell proposed as opposed to 20% is a better balance that is both doable but challenging. Otherwise we should push ourselves here, but make sure our targets are achieveable. My biggest problem here is the intensity targets since we need absolute reductions not decreases per unit, since this can still lead to an absolute increase in GHGs. If this part was removed, I would probably accept the plan as an acceptable compromise although not ideal, but this part is the one part that makes it unacceptable..
Still I have my concerns with the opposition response. If we set the bar so high and take and all or nothing approach, my worry is the Tories will figure this is a file that they shouldn't bother with and we will get nothing done. I would rather we make some progress than no progress.
As for meeting our Kyoto targets, breaking our international commitments is never a good thing, but I worry that it is probably too late to meet our Kyoto targets. Still we should strive to get as close as possible and however much we miss them by, we must agree to more aggressive targets in our second round. So if we were to fall 10% short, we have to cut 10% further in the second round than those who did meet their targets.
I also disagree with the idea of totally blaming the past government. As Andrew Coyne pointed out, Canadians are hypocrits on the environment since we say we are concerned and want action, but when asked to pay the price, we scream loudly against it. In Europe, where they will meet their Kyoto targets, they pay $2.00/Litre for gasoline while here people start screaming at a $1.00/Litre. It is time to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. That means we need to stop buying SUVs, turn down the temperatuer to 15C in the winter when out of your home and 25C in the summer when away, use public transit, bike, or walk wherever possible and quit complaining when gas prices go up. The reason the Europeans are going to meet their Kyoto targets is they are willing to make the necessary sacrifices. As Eddie Goldenburg pointed out, the Liberals didn't meet Kyoto mainly because there would have been a public backlash against it once the actual measures were put forward.
The Liberals have every right to criticize the plan, but we can only have credibility here if we have a fully costed plan with actual targets, not just saying we will meet our Kyoto targets with no plan. If we can forward a stronger plan, we can beat the Tories here, but if we have no plan, our attacks won't work well.
Afghanistan
I am very concerned about the torture case and believe a full investigation is needed. O'Connor should resign as minister since even though he may have not been directly involved, the buck always stops at the top and he needs to take responsibility here. But this plays to my bigger concern about us being in Afghanistan altogether.
Whenever one goes to war, this is always a risk of this happening, which is why we should avoid going to war unless absolutely necessary. We've been in Afghanistan longer than we were in Europe during World War II and the threat posed by Afghanistan was far less than the one posed by Germany during World War II. I believe we should pull out at the earliest date possible, which is why I condemn the NDP move to vote against the Liberal motion calling for a 2009 pullout.
Even if not their first choice, I don't believe in this idea of my way or the highway type politics, which unfortunately I feel too many in politics advocate. If the first choice is not feasible, then one should go for the best option available. And the applies in the case of the environment. Otherwise meeting our Kyoto targets is the best option, but if it cannot be done, get as close as possible. Had the NDP supported this motion, we could at least be out of Afghanistan by 2009.
Environment
A baby step in the right direction their plan, but still falls well short of what could be done. They seem to be doing the bare minimum here as I think 33% by 2025 as Gordon Campbell proposed as opposed to 20% is a better balance that is both doable but challenging. Otherwise we should push ourselves here, but make sure our targets are achieveable. My biggest problem here is the intensity targets since we need absolute reductions not decreases per unit, since this can still lead to an absolute increase in GHGs. If this part was removed, I would probably accept the plan as an acceptable compromise although not ideal, but this part is the one part that makes it unacceptable..
Still I have my concerns with the opposition response. If we set the bar so high and take and all or nothing approach, my worry is the Tories will figure this is a file that they shouldn't bother with and we will get nothing done. I would rather we make some progress than no progress.
As for meeting our Kyoto targets, breaking our international commitments is never a good thing, but I worry that it is probably too late to meet our Kyoto targets. Still we should strive to get as close as possible and however much we miss them by, we must agree to more aggressive targets in our second round. So if we were to fall 10% short, we have to cut 10% further in the second round than those who did meet their targets.
I also disagree with the idea of totally blaming the past government. As Andrew Coyne pointed out, Canadians are hypocrits on the environment since we say we are concerned and want action, but when asked to pay the price, we scream loudly against it. In Europe, where they will meet their Kyoto targets, they pay $2.00/Litre for gasoline while here people start screaming at a $1.00/Litre. It is time to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. That means we need to stop buying SUVs, turn down the temperatuer to 15C in the winter when out of your home and 25C in the summer when away, use public transit, bike, or walk wherever possible and quit complaining when gas prices go up. The reason the Europeans are going to meet their Kyoto targets is they are willing to make the necessary sacrifices. As Eddie Goldenburg pointed out, the Liberals didn't meet Kyoto mainly because there would have been a public backlash against it once the actual measures were put forward.
The Liberals have every right to criticize the plan, but we can only have credibility here if we have a fully costed plan with actual targets, not just saying we will meet our Kyoto targets with no plan. If we can forward a stronger plan, we can beat the Tories here, but if we have no plan, our attacks won't work well.
Afghanistan
I am very concerned about the torture case and believe a full investigation is needed. O'Connor should resign as minister since even though he may have not been directly involved, the buck always stops at the top and he needs to take responsibility here. But this plays to my bigger concern about us being in Afghanistan altogether.
Whenever one goes to war, this is always a risk of this happening, which is why we should avoid going to war unless absolutely necessary. We've been in Afghanistan longer than we were in Europe during World War II and the threat posed by Afghanistan was far less than the one posed by Germany during World War II. I believe we should pull out at the earliest date possible, which is why I condemn the NDP move to vote against the Liberal motion calling for a 2009 pullout.
Even if not their first choice, I don't believe in this idea of my way or the highway type politics, which unfortunately I feel too many in politics advocate. If the first choice is not feasible, then one should go for the best option available. And the applies in the case of the environment. Otherwise meeting our Kyoto targets is the best option, but if it cannot be done, get as close as possible. Had the NDP supported this motion, we could at least be out of Afghanistan by 2009.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 3:16 PM
2 Comments:
I think this was a very tempered post. I do however, disagree on one point - Kyoto is possible sooner than the Tories say. If it really came down to a life or death decision, we'd see how fast it could come about. However, in the wake of people's propensity to procrastinate and be self-involved and all the other things we seem to be, it's good something is going to be done. However again, though, Baird's plan is full of holes and lies and there is purposefully nothing to be accomplished before the end of what they still hope would be a majority government soon, leaving the mess, as they take advantage of far too often, to someone else. Truth is, if Harper wasn't PM, we'd have not already had a 1+ flushed down the toilet over the environment.
As for Afghanistan, well, between that and Kyoto Canada has broken TWO international laws in one week, both affecting the health and well being of other humans. It is, quite literally, criminal.
As for Kyoto Protocol, I agree we can meet it sooner. My guess is probably somewhere around 2017, otherwise 5 as opposed to 13 years behind. It is true the plan has many holes in it and it is interesting that like with the budget at first glance I was impressed, but when I read the details I realized how bad it was.
As for the environment, if Harper had a majority we would be in even worse shape as he would do nothing accept during an election year. And I think had the Liberals won the last election we still couldn't meet Kyoto targets, but at least we would be a year closer to it. My guess is 2003 was probably the last year we could have realistically met them
On Kyoto Protocol we haven't technically broken any international laws until the deadline comes, but certainly saying we aren't even going to try is not good. All countries do break international law from time to time, but it is not something we should make a habit of or should indifference to. I get the impression Harper only cares about our relations with the United States and no one else.
As important as our relations with the US are, they are not the only things.
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