Environment: Walking The Walk Vs Talking The Talk

The provinces of Québec and Ontario did what they had to do by bypassing the procrastinating government of Prime Minster Harper and his Harpies on efforts in tackling global climate change: they signed a mutual cap-and-trade deal.

What was the reaction of federal Environment (Harpie) Minister John Baird? Dixit (emphasis added):

"I think it's more about talk and political posturing than it is about cutting greenhouse gas emissions".

Oh, really?

Harper and his Harpies have been doing nothing but talking and posturing with regards to climate change.

Baird's response is just one more example of this. The pettiness of the Harper and his Harpies is such that instead of acting like, well, a responsible government and applaud such initiatives while seeking to build concretely upon them, they instead seek to undermine such initiatives by ... talking and posturing.

Another case in point with Baird's further opinion on this Québec-Ontario deal (emphasis added):

"The reality is that the federal numbers will be demonstrably higher than anything that Ontario or Quebec come up with".

Ah, yes - those Baird's oh-so-reliable-and-trustworthy numbers! As accurate as those in his infamous paid-for theoretical study to debunk Kyoto, perhaps?

Or as accurate as those "numbers" he claimed in order to debunk (an unlawfully ignore) bill C-288, which was put forth by the opposition parties in order to force the Harper government in meeting Kyoto targets by 2012?

Or perhaps as accurate as those "numbers" he used to actually defend the abysmal environmental record of the Bush administration?

But hey - Harper says that his government is serious about the environment, so ...

Reality ... Harper government style.

Québec's Prime Minister Jean Charest and Ontario's Prime Minister Dalton McGuinty best contextualized the actual, real reality (emphasis added):

McGuinty said there will be an international cap-and-trade system in the future, and it was Ontario and Quebec's responsibility to lay the groundwork for a national program in Canada.

"My hope here is that we lay the foundation for a program that is more comprehensive, more in keeping with where the world is going . . . and more in keeping with the values shared by Canadians," McGuinty said. "We need to attach a price to carbon emissions and we need to do that in a meaningful way."

Charest said the first step towards a system would be for the (federal) government to establish the regulatory framework for the program.

He said that a Canadian plan needs to be able to work with an American plan, depending on who wins the presidency in November.

For indeed, the blame for the death of Kyoto lies largely in the hands of the Bush administration and its eager lapdog, the Harper government. The two accomplices are likewise largely responsible for the current running in circles with regards to further international agreements to replace/improve Kyoto - but I digress.

In any case, Ontario and Québec are now showing the way.

Baird's response? Typical talk and political posturing (emphasis added):

On CTV's Question Period Sunday, federal Environment Minister John Baird said the province's plans undermine national efforts to force polluters to cut emissions.

"It will be the first time anywhere in the world people have talked about a trading regime where there are no regulations in place forcing the big polluters to cut their emissions," he said.

And never mind what Charest and McGuinty just said.

On a related note: many states and local governments in the U.S. are likewise going about their own ways in order to act on global climate change, having lost their patience on waiting for Bush and his Bushies to actually do something about it instead of, well, procrastinating while only talking and posturing ("Voluntary measures", anyone?).

Blustering, posturing, disassembling, blind, deaf, dumb and incompetent.

Such is the reality of the neocon Bush administration.

Such is also the reality of the (neo)Con Harper government.

Not surprisingly.

Then again, neocons have excelled in the art of accusing others of what they are actually guilty of.

Q.E.D. - once again.