Canada is losing the war. Not a war fought with bombs, guns and tanks in a specific location, but one fought around the world, in various cities, with words, images, and ideologies — a media war. We are becoming a rogue state that every nation and international organization feels it can attack. We are an environmental pariah. States with authoritarian governments and dictatorships, atrocious human rights records and even our historical European allies are castigating and condemning us for our environmental position.
Why? We are not doing anything different from these states. We are trying to protect our self-interests — our citizens and our economy — looking for an equitable environmental solution, but no one is listening. Instead, they are shouting us down. Again, the question is: why?
It was the Jean ChrĂ©tien government that helped bring the Kyoto Accord into being, preserving it from looming defeat. ChrĂ©tien signed the agreement not because it was the best thing for Canada, but because of Canada’s track record on environmental issues. It was also to help quell environmental interest groups and enhance Canada’s reputation. But by the time the Stephen Harper government came to power, Canada had already failed to meet its goals. Canadians are just not that environmentally concerned, not when it comes to protecting their own creature comforts, that is. Of course, the Harper government’s dismissal of the Kyoto Accord and its refusal to bind Canada to a similar environmental agreement has a large part to play in all this. But he was pushing for a solution that would meet environmental goals without impoverishing Canadians and their standards of living. So, why are we being singled out and persecuted in the world’s newspapers?
Part of the problem is that we no longer speak with one voice in Canada. With the third minority government in a row, to outsiders it looks like there is little or no consensus within Canada. This means that the actions of the government seem to have little legitimacy. This image is further propagated by the nature of our political system, which is adversarial. Outside agencies see us bickering in our own media, reinforcing the notion that our government does not speak for Canadians. Ironically, though the Chretien government did not have a higher approval rating for the Kyoto Accord or the support of provincial and municipal governments, it was seen as ‘legitimate’ when committing Canada to this agreement.
The lay of the political landscape suggests that this will be the norm for some time to come. So how do we prove to other states that, whether we support the Conservative government or not, this minority government or any minority government in Canada has legitimacy? Maybe it is time to acknowledge that our opposition parties have to stop opposing for the sake of scoring political points. Maybe it is time the government has to start working with the opposition parties, putting some of their concerns forward. Maybe it is time to put the interests of Canada as a whole forward instead of those of political parties and interests groups.
And yes, maybe it is time to acknowledge that the interests of Canadians might actually be best served if our politicians started to govern instead of looking to become the next political power within Canada. This is what Canadians want and, ironically, it is what we are known for around the world — co-operating and finding compromise so that we might succeed together.
John Kennair is an international business consultant and doctor of laws who lives in St. Albert.
