The Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-12-02, Page 44 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, December 2, 2015
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`Canada is back' a catchy slogan,
but climate file requires more substance
Canada is back! We hear the refrain
often around the new Liberal
government (I say 'around' rather
than 'from' because the vagueness of
the former sounds so much more gen-
teel than the crass specificity of the lat-
ter), and Sunday in Paris was no
different.
Environment Minister Catherine McK-
enna, prefacing each response with a
studied "so" or "alors" as one does in
polite company or on the CBC, made it
the central message in her joint news
conference with Foreign Minister Ste-
phane Dion.
McKenna clearly intended this as an
expression of good faith; a marker that,
come what may, no one can any longer
count this country among the laggards
on combating global climate change.
The neckbeards, troglodytes and mouth -
breathers are gone; the restoration has
begun.
But what if, on closer examination,
"Canada is back" were to mean some-
thing less laudatory than current usage,
by rock star and anti -oil sands crusader
Neil Young among others, would imply?
It was none other than erstwhile Lib-
eral leader Michael Ignatieff who thun-
dered, during a Liberal leadership
debate in 2006, "We didn't get it done!"
Ignatieff was referring to the Kyoto Pro-
tocol, inked with Canada's active partici-
pation in 1997, under which signatories
agreed to reduce their countries' green-
house gas emissions to five per cent
below 1990 levels by 2012. Those targets
were legally binding, unlike the ones
apparently to be established in the days
ahead in Paris. But by 2006 it was clear
they were unattainable. It was equally
clear that the previous Liberal govern-
ment of Jean Chretien had never tried to
attain them.
Hence the famous response to Ignati-
eff by Dion, then a Liberal leadership
candidate: "This is unfair! You don't
know what you speak about! Do you
think it's easy to make priorities?" This
snippet was later transformed into the
Column
Michael Den Tandt
Conservative attack ad, a classic of the
genre, that helped torpedo Dion in the
2008 election.
He was correct, of course; prioritizing
isn't easy. But it is what leaders sign up
for. Stephen Harper's approach to the
climate issue was to have his govern-
ment do next to nothing while accusing
all opponents of seeking to impose a
huge new tax on everything, including
happiness, Santa Claus and the Tooth
Fairy, and call it a day. Chretien's
approach was arguably worse in that it
claimed a transformative idealism that
was not for a moment genuine.
Is Paris different? Possibly. For the
first time ever, we are told, there is a crit-
ical mass of leaders of major economies
worldwide who believe hydrocarbon -
based energy must be gradually phased
out if we are to avoid catastrophic warm-
ing by century's end and beyond.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley's
recently unveiled climate -change strat-
egy, though it marks a huge new level of
government intervention in the econ-
omy, is actually a breath of fresh air,
simply because it is honest. It admits by
its structure that consumer behaviour,
and not the supposed depredations of
Big Oil or any other industry, is the nub
of the matter.
It's fair to say the Trudeau govern-
ment has so far been shrewd, if not par-
ticularly ambitious, in tackling this
issue. Rather than announce sweeping
new targets for reductions, a la Kyoto, it
has done the opposite, saying any fresh
targets will come 90 days after the Paris
summit, following consultations with
the provinces. It's clear already the Lib-
erals wish to avoid at almost any cost
the pitfalls of over -promising and
under -delivering, here. It's also clear
they've decided to borrow some of Ste-
phen Harper's decentralizing philoso-
phy and have the provinces lead. The
last thing Ottawa needs is, say, Sas-
katchewan Premier Brad Wall, mount-
ing a crusade against federal
intrusiveness.
The Prime Minister and cabinet would
do well to remember this, though:
Dion's politically ruinous carbon -tax
strategy, the Green Shift of 2008, was
honest, too. It went into the ditch
because neither the leader nor his party
could explain it, let alone sell it. If they
hope to galvanize Canadians to make
financial sacrifices and support rather
than punish a government that sanc-
tions higher fuel costs, they at some
point will need to persuade the very
many people who are neither climate
doomsayers nor "deniers," but simply
confused.
There has been a hiatus in measured
planetary warming since the late
1990s. There is scientific disagreement
about what this means. There is also
legitimate debate about the accuracy
of predictive models. The minority of
dissenting science should be explored
and addressed, not dismissed and vili-
fied. It's not theology and contrarians
are not heretics.
The Liberals will also need to take
pains to avoid the multi -billion -dollar
waste and anti -democratic outrages of
Ontario's Green Energy Act, which
foisted inefficient, hugely expensive and
environmentally harmful wind turbines
on rural communities that in many cases
did and do not want them.
They will need to listen to ordinary
Canadians, consider legitimate ques-
tions and concerns, and not talk down
with a lot of smug -sounding expert -
speak. "Canada is back," is a catchy slo-
gan. That's all it is. On this file in partic-
ular, much more is required.
Phantom power can cost homeowners over the long run
Are you aware of phantom power?
It can cost about the same amount as
running a second fridge according to
Hydro One.
Also known as phantom load or
standby power, phantom power is the
energy consumption that is being drawn
by many household gadgets, electronic
devices and appliances while they are
switched off or not in use, but plugged
in.
Here are five tips from Hydro One to
reduce the energy consumption in your
home:
• The most effective way to eliminate
standby power loss is to unplug your
devices when they are not in use.
• An easy way to turn your electronic
devices all the way off, and limit standby
power use, is to plug all electronics into a
power bar that can be easily switched off.
• Look for the ENERGY STAR® label
whenever you buy new electronics or
appliances. ENERGY STAR® identifies the
most energy-efficient products, which
reduce energy use even in standby mode.
• Unplug battery chargers as soon as a
device is fully charged or when the
charger is not being used.
• If you have pay-TV services, you will
probably want to keep your cable televi-
sion converter powered up at all times,
otherwise you risk rebooting problems.
Visit www.HydroOne.com/saveenergy,
for low-cost and no -cost tips to reduce
electricity use every hour of every day