Dion doing Harper's job - again

So tell me again why we're paying this Harper guy, giving him free houses to live in, official car, official chef, office, staff, security guards etc. etc. etc.?

Once again Stéphane Dion has to do Harper's job (and Baird's) because the prime minister and environment minister just aren't up to it. They're not getting things done. Well, not the things that Canadians want done, like protecting our planet and our citizens.

Dion attending Bali summit for Earth, not political gain
Mike De Souza, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, November 30, 2007

OTTAWA -- Liberal Leader Stephane Dion says his upcoming trip to a United Nations climate change summit in Indonesia has nothing to do with revitalizing his image or embarrassing the Harper government on the international stage.

Following a rocky first year, filled with ups and downs as leader of the official Opposition, Mr. Dion told CanWest News Service in an interview that he is more concerned with the risk of irreversible damage to the Earth's climate, and hopes to capitalize on his international contacts to give the planet a boost at the environmental negotiating table.

"My role is not to be a substitute for the government of Canada. My role is to try to push everyone to get a better result,"said Mr. Dion in his office on Parliament Hill. "I'm not alone. There's also (former U.S. vice-president Al) Gore and many other people who will be doing the same thing."

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper immediately reacted to the news that Mr. Dion would attend the Bali conference by e-mailing reporters to remind them that the Liberal leader had said in June that he would never speak out against the government when discussing matters with representatives of other countries.

But Mr. Dion, who chaired the 2005 UN climate change summit in Montreal, said his office has already been flooded by e-mails and phone calls from international politicians, business leaders and environmental organizations, who hope to meet with him at the conference in search of solutions to stop humans from causing global warming.

"I'm not going to claim that 180 countries want to see me. But, yes, there is movement," said Mr. Dion. "As the former chairperson of the conference, with a big network and a degree of expertise, I will see what I can do to create some good momentum."

At the Montreal summit, environmentalists have credited Mr. Dion with brokering an agreement that would prevent a gap between the end of the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period in 2012 and the next set of binding targets.

Environment Minister John Baird has not yet introduced regulations to crack down on pollution from large industries in Canada, but has insisted that his government would correct the mistakes made by the previous Liberal regime, which allowed greenhouse gas emissions to soar by more than 30% above the country's Kyoto target.

"It's very easy for the people who had the responsibility for 13 years to say how easy it would have been to act -- when they didn't act themselves," Mr. Baird said following a breakfast speech to the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce. "But we've got a good plan and I'm confident."

Mr. Baird has said the key to a successful international agreement is getting large polluting countries such as the U.S., India and China to sign on to binding targets. His office confirms that he has met with leaders and officials from all three countries, at international conferences and in Canada.

Mr. Dion said that he visited China twice in 2005 to convince them to come to the table and is not surprised that developing countries have always rejected binding targets.

"I know that's their position. I negotiated with them and I know this very well," Mr. Dion said. "I'm not telling you that everything would be solved if I was there."

Even so, he said, "I was at the conference in Montreal and we succeeded getting these countries to enter into a dialogue for the first time."

Mr. Dion accused the Conservative government of stalling the process by giving up on Canada's Kyoto Protocol commitments and holding out on a new deal instead of leading other countries by being the first to sign on.

He said Canada had more credibility when it was still trying to meet its targets and demonstrate to developing countries, where millions of people do not have electricity, that it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without devastating the economy.

The Harper government has refused to invite opposition parties as part of its official delegation because, it says, it wants to avoid partisan bickering. All three parties have said they will send delegates at their own expense.

Once again, Harper & company are getting nasty things done with Canadian taxpayers' money.