Stephen Harper and the Conservatives enjoy decent support in the polls. I suspect much of this is due to widespread – and justified – distrust of the Liberals in the West, combined with the belief that Mr. Harper is a Conservative.  But is he really? Are you getting what you’re voting for?

Canada is the biggest obstructor worldwide when it comes to action on global warming. This is deadly serious for many reasons. Even if Mr. Harper has bamboozled you into thinking that global warming is not happening, not human-caused, not a cause for concern, a giant socialist conspiracy, or some other claptrap, or if you believe that the Canadian government is doing the responsible thing about climate change, think again. You have been fooled by a master. Don’t believe politicians; go ask the scientists.
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Tar sands oil refinery

Even before acid rain, Canada and the United States have long been at odds over the issue of inter-continental pollution. The debilitating fact that our individual and shared industrial waste respects no physical boundary has become an increasingly destructive and contentious issue, which is matched only by the often impenetrable political boundaries which have prevented substantive policy initiatives from curbing the fundamentally devastating environmental impact this has wrought.

Chief among these transgressors are the Alberta tar sands.

Since 1966, development of these vast areas of petroleum manufacturing has gone full steam ahead, despite persistent and troubling data from environmental protection groups that the massively intrusive and destructive footprint of this endeavour has had disastrously long term effects on native plant, animal and human life in the region and beyond.
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Toronto Bans Water Bottles

The City of Toronto and its mayor, David Miller, have proven that they are serious about taking steps to help reduce the city’s impact on the environment. Will the measures prove to be successful in the end? I believe the recent mandatory $.05 charge for plastic bags will reduce demand— citizens already have more cloth bags than the need. I am more sceptical about the success of the water bottle ban. It lacks the scale of the “grocery bag tax” as it only pertains to municipal grounds. How about a $1.00 “bottled water tax” instead (with a non-toxic water bottle advertising the policy sent to every household in Toronto?).
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