Canada: Killing Kyoto, Burying The Bad News

The government "Action Plan" accompanying the release of the details of the proposed legislation also released reminds, for those too thick to recall Canadians that may have forgotten how bad the Liberals were, that the new legislation: "includes additional measures the Harper government will undertake in order to deliver on all its campaign commitments to clean up government... putting the legacy of political scandal behind us and restoring Canadians' trust in government." In Stephen We Trust? Few Canadians doubted the Conservatives under Harper would bring "change the way things are done in Ottawa, (if not forever, then as long as the Conservatives were running the show)." An excellent reason, they most sensibly agreed, to refuse to grant Harper a majority government. Most voters also agreed; things were bad under the corpulent and ultimately complacent Liberals, the perennial governor's hubris perfectly embodied by their ill-chosen and unlamented erstwhile leader, Paul Martin. Another excellent reason to refuse a majority to his long-awaited stab at the country's top job. But, Mr. Harper is being ingenuous when he assumes Canadians' "trust" in their government needs "restoring." Unlike Harper's south-of-the-border philosophical mentors, most Canadians both respect and trust the institutions created over the last century and half in this country. According to them, the fault, dear Stephen, lies not in the institution of Canadian governance, but in those that would disregard the intent of those institutions, and dismiss the will of the people in pursuit of personal objectives; regardless if that pursuit is purely venal, as in much of the circus witnessed in the latter days of the Liberals, or consists of high-minded reformation, galloping along heedless of a culture of which Canadians are rightfully proud, and traditions they have grown comfortable with. http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=4538 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on April 23, 2006]

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