AIR POLLUTION
Listening to the 6 o’clock news on C.B.C. the other day I was piqued at the statements coming from the mouth of an executive of the Sierra Club of Canada. He knows, in that all knowing tone, that the vast majority of Canadians are in favour of cleaning up the environment, and saving our planet from eventual destruction. I am sure if you asked individual Canadians if they are for cleaning up the environment their answer would be a resounding YES. But if the question was more nuanced and took in the price to be paid, there would be some hesitation.
Prime Minister Harper is in favour of a clean environment as much as the next Canadian. He breathes the same air as we do. But if he announced unilaterally changes that would elevate the costs of doing business in Canada, and the U.S. did not follow, thousands of jobs would be lost in Canada, and the reduction of air pollution would be less than negligible. The U.S. is the biggest polluter in the world and Canada must act in unison with the American industry to keep Canadian companies competitive. The total of Canadian pollution in the world hovers between 2-3 percent, and cutting our pollution in half, a nearly impossible task in the short term is impossible, and would have very little effect on the world. So why are Canadians the target of so much anger in Copenhagen, where the conference on pollution is being held. Simply, the U.S. has to be brought on side and Canada as an English speaking neighbour, is acting as the surrogate target for the real enemy of the Environmentalists, the U.S. It makes no sense to harangue the country you want to influence, especially if Barak Obama is president, who is perceived as friendly.
In reading this piece, one might think that I was not in favour of taking action to lower the pollution generated by Canadians. Nothing could be further from the truth. While I do not believe that Science has proved conclusively that man is responsible for all the earth-warming, there is no question that we are responsible for some, and lowering our pollution footprint makes good common sense The question is how much and in what period of time?
