Dion's Bali press conference

Finally got a chance to post this on YouTube:

Canadian Liberal leader Stéphane Dion holds a press conference at United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Bali, Indonesia, December 12, 2007. (Topics include: environment, climate change, Arctic, permafrost, adaptation, Kyoto Protocol, United Nations, Canada) (2 parts, EN)

Stéphane Dion - More year-end & Bali interviews

Stéphane Dion, Global National, Dec 2007

"Canada in Conversation" - Global National anchor Kevin Newman interviews official opposition leader Stéphane Dion, December 2007. Dion discusses Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan, the Manley commission, election chances in 2008, the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, and Dion as a politician. [08:15, English]

Stéphane Dion - year-end interview (Don Newman, Politics, CBC, Dec 18, 2007)
Canadian Liberal leader Stéphane Dion in a year-end interview with the CBC's Don Newman (Politics), December 18, 2007. Topics include election readiness, income trusts, United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Kyoto Protocol, environment. [10:16, English]

Update! - a slightly edited version of the above CBC intvu (to fit the under-10 minute requirement) is now available on YouTube:

Stéphane Dion - year-end interview (Question Period, CTV, Dec 23, 2007)
Canadian Liberal leader Stéphane Dion in a year-end interview with CTV's Craig Oliver (Question Period), December 23, 2007. Dion discusses possibility of an election in 2008, the economy, Harper's lack of plans, the Liberal team, Quebec, federal-provincial relations, the need for a public inquiry into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, winter in the Laurentians in the snow with Kyoto. [11:54, English]

And here's another Bali interview. . .
Stéphane Dion - entrevue sur le blocage des négociations à la conférence de Bali
L'entrevue avec Stéphane Dion sur le blocage des négociations à la conférence de Bali. (Radio Canada, le 14 décembre 2007. Environnement, changements climatiques, gaz à effet de serre, UNFCCC, ONU, Nations Unies) [5:43, français]

And here's a link to my previous post with video of more year-end interviews, Dion's press conference in Bali, and (a blast from the recent past) Dion's throne speech response (October 17).

Stéphane Dion - Bali press conference, year-end interviews

Video coverage . . .

Stéphane Dion - press conference at Bali UNFCCC, 2007.12.12
And now also available on YouTube:

Canadian Liberal leader Stéphane Dion holds press conference at United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Bali, Indonesia, December 12, 2007. (Topics include: environment, climate change, Kyoto Protocol, United Nations, Canada)

Stéphane Dion - CPAC year-end interview 2007.12.20
Now also available on YouTube:

Canadian Liberal leader Stéphane Dion in a year-end interview with CPAC, December 20, 2007. Dion and Peter Van Dusen discuss Dion's assessment of his first year as official opposition leader; reaction to negative press; the next election; Liberal party unity; the Harper Conservative record and agenda, e.g. Bali; the death penalty; Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and supply management; Liberal vision and popularity; Liberal policies, e.g. poverty and environment.

Stéphane Dion - year-end interview on CTV's Mike Duffy Live, 2007.12.18
Canadian Liberal leader Stéphane Dion in a year-end interview on Mike Duffy Live (CTV), December 18, 2007. Topics include election probability, Chalk River nuclear reactor, the environment, Bali climate change conference, Kyoto Protocol, Quebec, role as leader of the opposition, Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry, Saskatchewan byelection, NAFTA.

And while we're at it -
Stéphane Dion's Throne Speech Response, Oct. 17, 2007
Stéphane Dion's response to the Speech from the Throne, House of Commons, October 17, 2007. Réponse par Stéphane Dion au discours du trône, le 17 octobre 2007.

And here are some more year-end interviews and a Bali interview from Radio Canada.

Canada tied with US in Fossil award count

Canada and the US are way ahead of the pack in the running for the prestigious-in-a-very-shameful-kind-of-way Fossil of the Year award.

As of December 13, Canada and the US both have 22 points, well ahead of Japan, our closest competitor.

In fact, Canada's no-longer-new-really-kind-of-fossilized government is so good at this, that on December 13, Canada not only won third prize all by itself, but we also tied for first place with the US, Japan and Russia. Wow. I bet John Baird is really impressed that he's in the same club with the big boys.

Minister Baird gets all the credit for third prize to himself. According to Avaaz.org:

Canada takes third for walking out of a high-level negotiation meeting long before the end of a crucial discussion. Yesterday, a “Friends of the Chair” meeting brought together 40 key ministers to work through tough issues that officials had not been able to resolve. In the midst of this, Canadian Environment Minister John Baird abruptly got up and left. Where was he going? He was spotted moments later holding a drink at a negotiation-free cocktail reception.

Here's a pretty picture from avaaz.org to illustrate our race for the stratosphere - of course Canada is the red line:

And if that doesn't make your heart just burst with pride to be a Canadian, how about this? Youth delegates were intimidated by a Canadian security official who implied that they might end up in an Indonesian prison for holding up a sign at an appearance by Baird. And check out the spin by Harper's press secretary Dimitri Soudas near the end of the article. Impressive. Just like Question Period.

Canadian protesters upset with treatment at climate change summit in Bali
By Mike De Souza, CanWest News Service, Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
A youth delegation protesting the Harper government's climate change policies say that a Canadian representative intimidated them on Wednesday with a warning about Indonesian prisons to get them away from a news conference held by Environment Minister John Baird.

"He said that we might have free speech in Canada, but we don't know if we have it here, and we wouldn't want to be arrested by the Indonesian police," said Elizabeth McDowell, 24, who travelled to Bali from Vancouver.

McDowell was among a handful of Canadians who held up a sign questioning the government's leadership at the climate change conference while Baird was arriving to speak with reporters.

But she said the federal government representative who is in charge of Canadian security at the summit quickly yelled out to Indonesian police asking them to question the youth.

"He called them over and he was quite aggressive," said McDowell.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Canadian representative was not part of the government, but defended his actions.

"My understanding is that he was watching out for them and ensuring their safety," said Harper's press secretary Dimitri Soudas. "He was trying to be helpful. That's a shame that they took his kindness towards them and spun it."

Soudas has urged Canadian reporters covering the climate change summit to be skeptical about the dozens of Canadian youth who are promoting action on global warming, since some of them are card-carrying members of the Liberal party.

But McDowell said the accusations suggest the government is scared of criticism, noting that Baird bailed out of a scheduled event the previous night to present his own climate change plan to the conference.

"I think they're a little bit threatened by us," she said. "They're not ready to defend their plan because they don't have one, and they're not ready to defend their actions here."

She stressed that she had no particular political affiliation, adding that the youth coalition is made up of people from all political stripes.

The Indonesian police officer who was called over by the Canadian representative asked the youth a few questions, but soon walked away after determining they were no threat to security.

The youth have complained that they have been excluded from the official Canadian government delegation - along with environmental groups and opposition parties - while industry representatives, including an oilpatch executive, were welcome. Baird has not responded to requests for a meeting with the youth, she said.

Canada's approach "A recipe for failure in Bali"

Read Stéphane Dion's Bali Blog

Stéphane Dion discussed his role at the UNFCCC in Bali as president of the 2005 climate change conference in Montreal in an interview with CPAC, Friday, December 7, 2007.

My role is as a personality who has some networks, some influence, some experience because I've been the president of the 2005 conference of the United Nations on Climate Change....

Nobody disagrees that all the countries need to do something. Where there is a disagreement is when a country like Canada says that if the others don't do something, we will do nothing....

I'm not there to contradict the government as much as I'm there to help each delegation to go in the right direction.

I'm not a negotiator but I'm somebody who cares about the issue. We are speaking about the worst ecological threat humanity is facing and each of us must try to influence it in a good direction.

Here's the video -


Jean Langlois, Director of National Campaigns for Sierra Club Canada, agreed with Dion's assessment that "Canada's approach is a recipe for failure in Bali." Here's video of Langlois' interview with CTV, Tuesday, December 11, 2007.



CTV reports that Dion "has met with Canadian environmentalists -- something the government delegation hasn't done -- and will meet with UN climate boss Yvo de Boer, who had some pointed words about the Canadian position."

Meanwhile, Baird showed the standard of "leadership" we have come to expect from our formerly new government -

Baird was supposed to explain Canada's position at a meeting with non-governmental activists attending the conference. He showed up for the meeting, but quickly left before speaking.

Canadian activists and others waited for the minister to return. But they were later told Baird had to attend negotiations and would not be back.

"The minister who was supposed to address us was AWOL. He ran away," said Olivier Lavoie of the Canadian Youth in Action.

Lavoie said the minister probably did not want to confront young activists critical of Canada's stand.

Yvo de Boer "had some pointed words about the Canadian position. 'I personally find it interesting to hear Canada just a little while ago indicating it would not meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol,' de Boer said Monday. 'Now (it's) calling on developing countries to take binding reduction targets.'"

Rex Murphy's "Bali logic"

Kevin was kind enough to send a link to Rex Murphy's piece "Bali logic" in response to my previous post on Dion attending the Bali summit to do the job Harper should be doing.

To call Rex Murphy's opinion on climate change "logic" is a bit of a stretch.

Murphy says:

And where is the plain sense in proclaiming a global problem and designing a solution that exempts two of the largest contributors to that problem from the scheme to correct it?

What doesn't make sense is to let the planet be destroyed rather than doing everything we can to slow down and eventually stop the destructive process.

What doesn't make sense is to demand that the world's poorest countries - where many of the people don't have electricity or sufficient food or clean water - move first to solve a problem that the developed countries created.

Canada is one of the most wasteful countries in the world. We're blessed with an abundance of resources that we waste with no thought for the future or even for what's happening right now.

Canada is also blessed with a well-educated and technologically-advanced population - that means we have the resources to contribute toward solving the problem.

We can develop methodologies and technologies to mitigate and slow down climate change, then we can share them with the developing world to help them slow down their emissions. We can sell our technologies to other developed countries and make "megatonnes of money" as Dion says. If we don't, we'll not only be left with a severely degraded environment, we'll harm our economy because other developed countries will take advantage of the huge opportunities available in developing and selling green technologies.

What people like Murphy don't seem to be able to get through their heads is that this isn't just some cute little political football we're talking about. This is our entire world. This is everything. Destroy it and we have no place left to live.

It's not only unethical and immoral to do nothing, it's astoundingly stupid.

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.