Example of Conservative Neglect on the Economy
Harpers’ Conservatives continue their don’t-lead, do-nothing approach to the environment,which is consistent with their don’t-lead, do-nothing approach to the economy.
There is a clear example of the alternative that could have been, had the Conservatives taken prompt action. In this alternative, Canada could have been taking advantage of an opportunity to develop new green industries, and thus jobs.
Harper who talks an awful lot about his concern for the economy turned a blind eye toward an opportunity that could have repositioned Canadian industry for a more prosperous, sustainable future. The Toronto Star1 (12 December 2009) reports on a real example of the alternative in a piece about Jack Layton’s (NDP) efforts to bring wind power to Canada after his trip to Copenhagen 13 years ago.
“Toronto had to cut a $1 million cheque to ship the wind turbines from the Netherlands. “I said why aren’t we building these things here?” Layton said.
Almost a decade later, a former Nissan auto plant in Bromont, Que., is doing just that. But now that all countries like China and the U.S. are sinking massive investment into building clean energy technology, harnessing the wind and the sun and the water, it may be too late for Canada to keep pace.”
The point is Layton, like plenty of other people, recognized long ago that there is a lot of opportunity to create new industries supporting the necessary changes countries around the world must make to our way of living in order to sustain a climate in which we flourish (both environmentally and economically). The Conservatives’ fearful tunnel vision, leading them to deny the urgency and necessity of reforms in our environment policy, blind them to real economic opportunities.
