Are we still in the part of the book where we harp on Americans for not signing onto Kyoto? Jason Cherniak seems to think so. In yet another yawning round of Bush-bashing, he cites a bunch of Al Gore quotes to arrive at the following conclusion: it is clear that people who see a similarity between Stephen Harper and George Bush are not being "anti-American." I've lost track of the number of times I've had to try and explain to people that Bush does not have the constitutional authority to ratify Kyoto; the US Senate does, and they indicated in the Byrd Resolution that they unanimously rejected Kyoto. Canadians love to criticize Uncle Sam for not signing Kyoto, but why do we still see fit to pat ourselves on the back for signing it and then tossing it into the garbage before the ink even dries?
Look, kids, when people talk about a mature Canada-US relationship, posts such as this do not embody that spirit. When I "read between the quotes," the only thing that becomes clear is that someone handed Al Gore the Liberal Party's talking points on Kyoto; it is the only plausible explanation to suppor the idea that he actually believes we have done something on achieving the Protocol's requirements. Listening to the ongoing Liberal rhetoric that Harper is somehow responsible for the Chretien-Martin failure to develop a coherent and workable strategy for the environment is nothing short of hypocritical. As if the country woke up on 24 January 2006 and suddenly developed a "global conscience" when it came to environmental issues and is pursuing this crusade anything but cynically.