There’s no position like no position

Last Tuesday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon convened a summit of nearly 100 world leaders to, in his words, “mobilize the political will and vision needed to reach an ambitious agreed outcome based on science at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen.”
The summit also featured Barack Obama’s first address to the UN. In Wednesday’s speech, Obama laid out the American government’s stance on the major global issues of the day.
On the subject of climate change, Obama said that, “in the 21st century, there will be no peace unless we make take responsibility for the preservation of our planet.” Beyond this, he admitted the fault of “wealthy nations that did so much to damage the environment in the 20th century,” and called upon them to take the burden of leadership to negotiate a safe climate future.
World leaders, including French President Nicholas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Chinese President Hu Jintao, watched intently as Obama expressed how it will be necessary for world leaders to turn the page towards a “new chapter of international cooperation [that] recognizes the rights and responsibilities of all nations.”
While the leaders of the free – and not so free – world were discussing the environment, the Canadian prime minister was having a much less important meeting with reporters at a Tim Horton’s in southern Ontario.
Stephen Harper, labelled by Maclean’s magazine in 2006 as the “Tim Horton’s P.M.” toured the Tim Horton’s Innovation Centre, home to the Research and Development arm of Canada’s favourite coffee and doughnut chain. The Tim Horton’s website claims this location is responsible for “research, innovation and consumer testing.” Harper must have been champing at the bit to pick the minds of an institution that was the birthplace of such timeless favourites as the wrap snacker, the caramel apple fritter, and bagel B.E.L.T. sandwich. On election day last fall, Harper’s riding committee spent more than $600 at a Tim Horton’s in his Calgary Southwest riding.
The Conservative party claims that Harper’s absence from the UN Summit was in protest of the attendance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The point of the Timmy visit was to show Canadians the positive effect of the Conservative’s economic strategy. After many years of being an American company, Tim Horton’s is once again flying the maple leaf, due to Conservative cuts in corporate taxes.
Unfortunately for Harper, his actions did little more than embarrass Canada on the global stage. He drew criticism from all over the Canada with headlines such as “Doughnuts over Diplomacy,” and an online campaign that garnered over 1,200 supporters in less than 18 hours on Facebook.
In the political arena, Liberal Environment Critic David McGuinty said that Harper’s choice was “like Nero’s fiddling while Rome burns.” Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May told the Concordian that, “it may have been a favour to the world community that our Prime Minister opted for a double-double, instead of showing up to side with the few remaining countries trying to block progress for a meaningful climate treaty. Under Prime Minister Harper, Canada’s role has moved from disappointing to despicable.”
Canada is the only country to have ratified the Kyoto Accord and not met any of its targets. Our nation is standing fast against a growing tide of progressive thought and action. A recent Pembina Institute poll reports that 83 per cent of Canadians want our government to commit to strong action on global warming, and that 78 per cent agree that our goals should be based on the targets set by leading scientists, even at a cost to our economy.
As the global economic market shows more and more signs of life, and world leaders prepare to discuss the environment at a major summit in Copenhagen this December, Harper is going to have to come up with some substantive policy. If he fails to do so, he will face harsh repercussions.

Related Posts