...as Jeff Simpson did in his Monday column, "The bozo years are over for Alberta. What now?" (behind firewall).I say Yes! This definitely denigrates clowns. And clowns make us laugh, even those sad faced clowns, and some of them can juggle or save cowboys from angry cows at the rodeo. Has Ralph Klein ever made anyone laugh or saved them from a cow? Not that I know of. If anything, he's more like one of those psycho clowns that goes around murdering horny college students in cheap horror movies, which is alright in its place I guess, but not the kind of person you want running a government.
Furthermore, Simpson's point is directed not just at Klein, not even at the Conservative government he has led for the past decade, but at the people of Alberta as a whole. For example, on actions taken to reduce carbon emissions, Simpson writes:
The efforts during the bozo years were halting and grossly inadequate. The leadership candidates are dreaming when they pat their government on the back. Merely reducing the intensity of energy use doesn't cut it. If the oil sands are developed as currently planned, the result will be even more of an environmental mess.
Alberta needs carbon dioxide pipelines, massive carbon sequestration, strong and enforceable emissions restrictions, a carbon trading market (preferably national or even continental) and a crash program in new technologies. In short, it needs a political culture change. The good news is that many Albertans are ready for the challenge. So are many companies. They're just waiting for leadership. (The Harper government should wake up too: Albertans are ready to move beyond that damp squib of a climate change policy recently released.)
The old arguments -- capital flowing out of the province, business getting scared, economic disaster -- are typical industry boilerplate. Green is the colour of money, but eco-green increasingly will mean opportunities to make money, provided Alberta gets out ahead of other jurisdictions, invests in finding better solutions to carbon problems, and sells that know-how elsewhere. If the public treasury has to help get Alberta there first, so be it.
Now, Klein has referred to Simpson's article as "crap", and the product of petro-envy, and it is probably this passage that, all names aside, really cheeses him off. Simpson is accusing Albertans of being stuck in the past, crouching behind jurisdictional boundaries like cowboys in Indian country, huddled within the narrow confines of their mental fortress and waving decadent baubles they've purchased with the blood of the land (oil, if you're not following the metaphor) over the walls as a taunt to the rest of the nation.
Simpson is telling Albertans to straighten up and fly right, to emerge and lead, for the good of the country, and indeed the good of the planet.
No wonder Ralph is blo-vating on their behalf.
Slaming Albertans for voting Progressive Conservative and subsequently the party for NOT taking more drastic action on the environmental front is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteFor example, if the Federal Liberals are REALLY keen on reducing emissions, why don't they raise the standard of fuel efficiancy in our cars to that of Europe?
ETA: Europe's carmakers failing on fuel efficiancy:
http://www.eta.co.uk/news/newsview.asp?n=638
Why don't we take this approach if we're serious on reducing green house gas emissions?
Because the auto industry in Ontario is far to valuable. Would Ontarians vote for this kind of legislature that could possibly jeopardize a huge part of their economy for the sake of the environment? They should, but they won't.
The same is with Alberta. Why do many albertans want the oil sands to go through despite knowing the ill effects of such extraction? Because it creates jobs, it makes people money so they're going to vote for the guys that will do that.
Just as Ontario won't want to push the auto makers away, neither do Albertans want to push away the Oil and Gas industry.
Being eco-green is a business where money can be made, and I support such projects. But I can understand the hesitation for in the short term jobs and money will be lost. A shift in political culture does not happen overnight, nor with the election of a new Progressive Conservative leader.
Futhermore, if these "bozo" years were so bad Simpson should be critiquing the federal Liberals for their inaction (besides signing Kyoto which did nothing until being implemented, which it hasn't) on our environmental concerns. The "bozo" years led us to be the most wealthy province in the country and the least taxed. The "bozo" years will be known as the begining of the Golden Years for Alberta.
Simpson, an Ontarian, is perpetuating the "big bad Alberta" myth which doesn't help gain support for his argument inside Alberta. You'll attract more bees with honey than vinegar - a principle that when it comes to Ontarians talking about how they would like Alberta to be different, evades them completely.
ps - Klein has made me laugh in the past. Like when he threw change that those homeless people when he was drunk. And then he was relected with another huge majority. That made me laugh.