Kyoto vote - Bring it on

An article today in the National Post details the options before the Conservatives as the Liberal-sponsored private members bill on Kyoto comes to a final vote. If passed (which is expected), it would force the government to meet the Kyoto targets that the Liberal government agreed to years ago.

Given that the Liberal government of that day took no tangible steps to achieve the objectives that they themselves signed onto, it's a pretty good sign that they never took their own word/signature seriously in the first place. That they are now trying to tie the CPC government down with this decision is a tremendous act of hypocrisy, and -- an incredible opportunity. The opportunity is to force those who support this private members bill to put their votes where their mouths are - if they truly mean what they've been spewing about the environment, then they will be willing to subject Canada's economy to the ravages our Kyoto fulfillment would place on it. Of course, the CPC government can avoid following this law by putting the issue directly before Canadians in a general election, where the positions of the CPC and all the other parties are laid bare in a way not previously done.

According to the article, even Buzz Hargrove has said that these kinds of reductions are not achievable without crippling Canada's economy in an almost-unprecedented fashion - the only modern country to achieve this kind of economic reversal was the Soviet Union, as its economy collapsed after it broke up 17 years ago.

Given the probability of widespread uncertainty about whether it's even possible to meet 'our' Kyoto targets, I predict a CPC majority, perhaps larger than that of any party that we've seen in Canada's history. While I'm not a true-blue CPC supporter (I consider myself a little to the right of Attila the Hun)(okay, I think that joke may be overused), I flee the presence of the other mainstream parties. And what's more, I think more Canadians than ever would too - at the least, they would stay home in droves to avoid supporting these hypocritical jerks who have the audacity to sign onto a treaty that they never themselves attempt to fulfill, and then expect others to do so in their place. Let's assign them to the dustbin of Canadian history - let's out-do the Kim Campbell blowout.