Prime Minister Stephen Harper embarrasses Canada at United Nations Global Warming Conference

by Paul Chen

At an unprecedented United Nations Conference of world leaders on Global Warming held on Monday, 24 September 2007, Canadian Prime Minister Harper made every effort to undermine the attempt by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to build momentum for a tough new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. In his opening remarks, Secretary-General Ban stressed the immediate challenge: "To confront climate change within a global framework, one that guarantees the highest level of international co-operation."

That view was echoed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said that "collective action is imperative. The fate of each is linked with that of all. Solidarity is imperative. The poor would be the first victims of our selfishness." Translating those sentiments into a plan of action, Hilary Benn, who is British secretary of state for the environment, called on every country to take on "binding reduction targets" for greenhouse gas emissions. "It is inconceivable that dangerous climate change can be avoided without this happening," she said.

By contrast, Mr. Harper used the occasion to show he opposes the kind of concerted international action needed to fight global warming. Global Warming and accompanying climate change is a matter of life and death for our planet Earth, and the continued failure of Mr. Harper to champion Canada, a role model for other countries in the world which include huge Kyoto offenders like the United States to China to India, is a betrayal of Canada's national identity and global leadership, as a progressive nation in the world.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said that his government seeks an agenda of "balance" on Global Warming. However, it has become apparent that the substantive agenda that Mr. Harper pursues is one of procrastination on behalf of Petroleum Industry interests, and mass-deception.

The idea that Mr. Harper presents, that government in a modern capitalist society, can rely on the private sector to "spontaneously innovate" in a broad context of setting their own "non-binding conservation benchmarks" on Greenhouse emissions, that will save the world from Global Warming, is totally outrageous.

The role of the private sector in a market based economy which Mr. Harper endorses, is to pursue often short-sighted commercial profit, and to obey laws established by government. The role of responsible government, in a democracy like Canada, is to create laws in the context of public policy leadership, on behalf of members of the society. This includes environmental protection related legislation, as an inviolable human right.

Redressing Global Warming beyond public relations gestures, is a very low priority for large Greenhouse emission polluters, relative to providing short sighted commercial gains to elite shareholders.

Government on behalf of the people of Canada, that Mr. Harper supposedly represents, and NOT the private sector, has the ethical obligation to lead the fight against Global Warming.

Furthermore, Mr. Harper does not represent Canadians on the pivotal issue of Global Warming. Indeed, Global Warming has catapulted the environment, alongside healthcare, as top issues that Canadians are demanding redress. Mr. Harper is simply the apparent "messenger" of the principal financial backers of the Conservative Party of Canada. These Conservative backers, in turn, belong to an overall cult, driven by greed, and commercialism in association with the pursuit of materialistic power.

Canadians have embraced a constructive and creative role of government in society, as a vital mechanism to represent people against prospective abuses by for-profit greed-driven corporations.

Prime Ministers of Canada have also traditionally sought to champion a context where Canada would seek to inspire other nations, as a leader. Canada, for example, has lead the world in areas from peacekeeping to universal public healthcare and other social policy, to the creation of a multicultural policy, which other nations have sought to emulate. Mr. Harper seeks no such inspiring progressive leadership role for Canada.

Instead, Mr. Harper's apparent dubious vision is to transform Canada from a forward-thinking independent nation of "Peace, Order and Good Government" (as cited in the Canadian Constitutional Act, 1867) into a colony of Corporate America. Mr. Harper is turning Canada into a colony of the United States that serves its political-military-industrial complex, which is also against the affirmation of the Kyoto Protocols.

Mr. Harper's recent rhetoric against the U.S. Bush administration on trade and other issues is merely political theatre, and a corresponding pre-election public relations stunt. Mr. Harper is simply providing his supporters in the corporate owned mass-media in such newspapers as the National Post, quotations which can be used to fabricate the image that Mr. Harper is actually pursuing an independent foreign policy agenda from the U.S. Bush administration. This is apparently not the case. To borrow a phrasing use in hip hop, don't be fooled by the hype.

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