Ralphy, You Had Your Chance

My, my, my, now the opposition gripes and complains. When they were their asked for their input a year ago, no complaints then, why? Why now? What is it?

OTTAWA - Opposition parties complaining about Conservative "sabotage" of an independent rights agency were consulted on all the government's appointees last year but failed to raise objections, ministerial documents show.

Ralphy, baby, you accuse the Conservatives of sabotaging the independent rights agency but why didn't you say anything at the time when you were consulted?

Now, Liberal MP Ralph Goodale is accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of "sabotage" of the 20-year-old agency.His objective here, obviously, is to destroy this organization from within, to cause such absolute turmoil that it will simply collapse," Goodale said in an interview

This is your excuse?

But what Liberals say is now self-evident was not so apparent to the party last year, when it failed to comment even as the government was packing the board with partisans.

Sorry, Ralph, it won't fly. Don't think a whole lot of people are gonna buy that one. No use bawling and squalling now. Too late, you had your chance! Go find something constructive to do so you can actually contribute something positive for the country for a change.

Is US Cap and Trade Dead?

Despite the recent revelations that exposed the IPCC and their manipulated data, President Obama seems to be going ahead with carbon emission plan focusing on clean energy technology not cap and trade. In his recent State of the Union address, he didn't even mention one word of cap and trade. So is it dead? What does that mean for us? Minister Prentice and PM Harper has stated that we need an harmonized plan with the US. Does that mean there will be no wealth transfer through cap and trade?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, trying to save a stalled bill to fight climate change, said on Wednesday clean energy investment could power jobs growth and made no mention of creating a market in planet-warming emissions.
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.Obama, in his first State of the Union speech to Congress, instead focused on the bill's potential to drive huge investment in solar panel making, wind farms and other green energy, saying this would boost jobs and exports to rivals such as China and India
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"But even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy," Obama said.

Hmmm.......... Clean energy. Isn't that what PM Harper and President Obama committed to do when the President visited Ottawa last February?

This is what PM Harper said just days ago in Davos Switzerland

.During a roundtable discussion with five other world leaders, Harper said there are consequences of going green too quickly.

"A lot of the demands for targets or for actions — whether it's on developing or developed countries — will have very significant impacts on their economy," he said.

The prime minister said short-term emission goals can't be met without sinking economies, adding that the focus must be on developing new technologies that could reduce emissions down the road."

PM Harper Third Report on the Action Plan on 28 September 2009, Saint John, New Brunswick

"We've also invested in the economy of the future by upgrading knowledge infrastructure, expanding graduate student internships and investing in green technology."
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November 30, 2009
"What we have been arguing for very vigorously is a genuine global agreement where there is widespread participation of all countries. If everybody is participating, the relative costs for any one country are quite modest," he said. "The costs go up astronomically when there are those who don't have to reduce their emissions or radically increase their emissions."

But the development of new green technology is key to achieving even modest targets, Mr. Harper said."

Canadian-American Business Council and Canadian Association of New York
September 17, 2009

New York, New York
"In short, Canada is emerging as an energy superpower, and through the Canada-U.S. Clean Energy Dialogue, we are working closely with the Obama administration going into the Copenhagen meeting on climate change. We want to also develop clean energy technologies and a North American approach on emissions reductions to ensure we are a green energy superpower as well. "

It looks like President Obama is taking PM Harper's lead on clean energy technology IF you believe in global warming and want to do something that isn't going to kill the economy. It looks like they are are still on the same page.