"Stephen Harper’s climate-change record can’t be ignored anymore" - because it's putting Canadian jobs and our economy at risk

Worthwhile article from Chantal Hebert here.

She's not the first to link Harper's gutting of environmental regulations, skeptical attitude towards climate change and attacks on the environmental movement to other countries (particularly our major trading partner south of the border) reluctance to embrace Canada's natural resources, but in just two sentences, Hebert does a good job of exposing the box that the Conservative government has painted Canada's economy into:

"Harper has made it impossible to have a national conversation on the economy without talking about pipelines, but just as impossible to debate those without addressing his climate change record. When it comes to Canada’s energy agenda, it is the elephant in the room that will no longer be ignored."

When other countries and trading partners read reports that state Canada ranks worst on climate policy among industrialized countries, that doesn't encourage confidence. 

As someone who was part of the Young Liberals of Canada delegation to the United Nations Conference of the Parties climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009, it is disappointing that Canada's leadership sees the environment and the economy as competing interests, but I am happy that the the Liberal Party and Justin Trudeau have a sustainable and balanced energy policy.

This understanding that responsible approaches to environmental and energy policy can benefit all Canadians also contrasts nicely with Thomas Mulcair and his NDP, who are when speaking in front of a Calgary corporate oil sands audience say "Pipelines...should be a priority...[we] will be a partner with the development of energy resources...We will be there with you." while attacking the oil sands in Toronto Centre.

Why not a McQuaig vs. Mulcair debate on natural resource development?

As I predicted back in September, the Mulcair NDP has wasted no time in demonstrating that the "Love is better than anger" NDP is long gone, as Mulcair candidates in the by-elections (particularly Toronto Centre) have spared no opportunity in launching angry attacks on the third-party Liberals.

Mulcair's candidate in Toronto Centre, Linda McQuaig has been negative from day one, attacking the Liberal candidate for not being "from" Toronto (an interesting strategy in a riding with one of the largest population of New Canadians in the country and not one I really thought worked well for the NDP against Glen Murray in his by-election, but the Mulcair NDP is not going to miss a chance to be angry) and attacking Justin Trudeau on the environment and energy development. You can see a sample of Ms. McQuaig's consistency on environmental policy above, but something McQuaig has also been demanding is more debates. I'd love to see her debate a political leader who has positions like this:

Mulcair promises partnership with oil sands..."Pipelines to carry oil from the West to the East should be a priority...[we] will be a partner with the development of energy resources...We will be there with you."

And this in a speech "organized by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by oil sands producer Suncor Energy Inc. and pipeline company Enbridge Inc." Or how about a leader, who speaking to the elite and well connected Canadian Club of Toronto:

"Mulcair throws support behind West-to-East oil pipeline...Mulcair gave his clearest sign of support yet for the notion of a west-to-east pipeline...Mulcair said shipping western oil to Eastern Canada is “pro-business"...Mr. Mulcair later told reporters he has long said he would not speak against the oil sands expansion.

A debate between Ms. McQuaig and her fellow Mulcair candidate Cory Szczepanski in Brandon-Souris would also be interesting, considering he proudly tweeted out the first article on October 27th:

"Willing to bring it … hard", "stoke[ing]...frustration and anger" - What the expect from NDP campaigns in the upcoming by-elections

That's what Pundits' Guide and David Akin wrote about new Mulcair candidate Linda McQuaig's approach to politics in their (both very good) summaries of the Toronto Centre nominations. I was happy to spend the day pulling vote for Chrystia Freeland, who McQuaig wasted no time in attacking. Those who read my blog frequently will know that I would be a wild hypocrite to pretend to be offended by going on the attack, but as Liberals, we have to realize both that Mulcair's NDP will pull as few punches as the Harper Conservatives in both Toronto Centre and Bourassa going after Liberals and making personal attacks both nationally and on local candidates. The "Love is better than anger" etc stuff was always more how New Democrats saw themselves then how they actually behaved, but Mulcair's NDP's determination to attack the third-party Liberals years before a general election is something Liberals are going to have to deal with when campaigning directly against the NDP. In the past, Liberal campaigns against the NDP failed too often when they simply boiled down to strategic voting arguements - an arguement that collapsed in the 2011 federal election. We have to be unafraid to defend our Leader and candidate from personal and policy attacks, and argue that Justin Trudeau and candidates like Chrystia Freeland are better suited to address the needs of all Canadians. And yes, we can make arguements like how McQuaid's support of "Israeli Apartheid Week" and Mulcair's main focus as leader being tearing open the Constitution with Senate abolishment demonstrate that the NDP isn't focused on the issues of everyday Canadians. As a soon to be constituent of Toronto Centre, I'll be looking forward to helping out Justin Trudeau and the Freeland campaign.