(Canadian Minister) Day mocks Gore, climate change in article

CP ^ | December 11, 2006

[West Coast Conservative]

A November cold snap prompted Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day to dismiss Al Gore's climate change crusade in a website article brimming with mockery.

Day's letter to his constituents in the British Columbia riding of Okanagan-Coquihalla constituents last week opened with a shot at the former U.S. vice-president.

"Hey who knows, maybe Al Gore is right,'' Day wrote in the post dated Dec. 6.

"Maybe all my constituents living high up on the West Bench, or Lakeview Heights, or the hills of Logan Lake will soon be sitting on lakeside property as one of the many benefits of global warming.''

Gore has long campaigned against what he believes is government inaction on climate change. His documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, did record business.

Polls suggest the Conservatives' environmental package has been a dud with voters. Those same surveys suggest the environment could be a ballot-box issue.

When asked about the blog after question period, Day walked away from reporters and refused to comment.

Day wrote that a recent cold snap had him "begging for Big Al's Glacial Melt when the mercury hit -24.''

About 22 towns and cities in British Columbia "had broken all-time records for paralyzing frigid temperatures,'' Day wrote.

But the Minister for Public Safety said that "rather than feeling badly for yourself,'' constituents should consider the upside:

"For every hour it's that cold, millions of those nasty ravenous pine beetles who are destroying our forests are having their pesky little heads and jaws frozen, literally to death.''

John Bennett, senior policy adviser at the Sierra Club of Canada, said Day's comments are symptomatic of the government's position on the environment.

"What the blog demonstrates is what the government of Canada really thinks about climate change, that it is something to joke about, not something to take seriously and the policies of the government reflect that,'' he said.

Bennett added that the Harper government cut almost all climate change programs when it came into power.

The government began disassembling Canada's Climate Change Program last March when programs announced in Action Plan 2000 were not renewed.

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose introduced the government's Clean Air Act in October. The proposed legislation seeks to attack smog as well as some of the pollutants that cause global warming.

Liberal environment critic John Godfrey said Day's punch line was lost on him.

"The problem is that when a senior cabinet minister, even in jest, laughs away and dismisses the greatest challenge facing the planet today . . . and reduces it to, 'Well, it's snowing, therefore, where's the climate change, and even if there was climate change, maybe everyone would be happy because they'd have beach front property,' this is to trivialize, in an inappropriate way, a huge problem for the planet,'' Godfrey said.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May said she wasn't surprised by Day's comments.

"Mr. Stockwell Day sums up what David Suzuki said about parliamentarians, that they're all ignoramuses,'' May said in a telephone interview.

Day's comments reflect his ignorance about his own portfolio as minister of public safety, May said.

"The most significant threat to Canadian security is climate change, not terrorism.''

[ferri]

ping

[fanfan]

Canada ping.

Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.

[Anselma]

" ...parliamentarians, that they're all ignoramuses,'' May said ..."

Wouldn't that apply to May, also?

[Asfarastheeastisfromthewest...]

"Mr. Stockwell Day sums up what David Suzuki said about parliamentarians, that they're all ignoramuses,'' May said in a telephone interview.

Hard to believe but in this case, there ARE greater ignoramuses than parliamentarians..... how about we start with Mr Suzuki.

[sangfroid]

So. wasn't he supposed to have changed his name to "Doris" by now? I wonder what the hold-up is on that?

Mr. Day seems to be getting in a little over his head by getting involved in a scientific debate over climate change. He should stick to what he knows best, Paleontology.

[GMMAC]

Given, your comments with respect to Stockwell Day all echo shots the left took at him circa 2000, your post overall gives off considerably more than a mere whiff of 'eau de Troll'.

As example, the "paleontology" crack was originally made in reference to Day's conservative Christian beliefs and, presumably, all others who share them.

[GMMAC]

From Wikipedia: Stockwell Day - 2000 Election

"During the campaign, there was increased scrutiny of Day's fundamentalist Christian beliefs (he is a devout Pentecostal), and past comments about homosexuality and abortion. The Liberals campaigned on Day having a "hidden agenda". Liberal activist Warren Kinsella mocked Day's belief in Young Earth creationism by pulling out a Barney doll during a television interview and stating that "this was the only dinosaur ever to be on Earth with humans". Media covering the Day campaign bus, nicknamed "Prayer Force One", whistled the Flintstones theme song to mock the idea that humans and dinosaurs co-existed.[1]

Further suggestions of a hidden agenda focussed on the Alliance's direct democracy proposals, which were revealed to require a referendum on any proposal supported by a petition signed by 3% of Canadian voters. Some asserted that "special interest" groups would use the low requirements to put contentious subjects to a national referendum. The proposal was satirized by Rick Mercer of This Hour has 22 Minutes who started a mock online petition calling for a referendum on whether Day should change his first name to Doris. The petition garnered more than a million signatures.

Day's campaign was marred by other controversies. In mid-campaign, the Alliance candidate in Winnipeg, Betty Granger, was quoted as voicing concerns about an "Asian invasion" in Canada. And in the televised leaders' debate, Day held up a handwritten sign saying "NO 2-TIER HEALTHCARE" in large letters to counter a Globe and Mail newspaper headline earlier in the campaign. As props were against the rules, he claimed it was his briefing notes.

Day was also a victim of an incident during the election. When making a "grand entrance" for a speech at Conestoga College, communist Julian Ichim splashed him from the front of the stage with 2 litres of chocolate milk, saying he did it to protest Day's "homophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-poor agenda".[2]~[3]~[4]~[5]~[6] After, on the political comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes actress Mary Walsh jokingly offered Day chocolate milk, saying "all they had was homo, and I knew (Day) wouldn't like that."[7]

On election night, the Alliance increased their seats over Reform totals, and kept Reform's strong representation in western Canada, but the hoped-for breakthrough in Ontario did not occur."

[conservative in nyc]

"The most significant threat to Canadian security is climate change, not terrorism.''

Do these people honestly believe this? If anything, Canada would benefit from global warming - a longer growing season, and year-round ice-free passage to Churchill, Manitoba would make it a strategic port.

[GMMAC]

Typical CP indoctrination piece: if you're in a hurry, you can almost always skip the mock even-handedness & simply go directly to the final sentence to get the 'party line'.

I'd be surprised if you could find one article in a hundred where CP doesn't give the left the last word.

[Brucifer]

I love the way "Global Warming" became "Climate Change." Now it doesn't matter whether it gets hotter or colder or whether there's more hurricanes or fewer. The climate is "changing" and it's all our fault.

[sangfroid]

Given, your comments with respect to Stockwell Day all echo shots the left took at him circa 2000, your post overall gives off considerably more than a mere whiff of 'eau de Troll'.

As example, the "paleontology" crack was originally made in reference to Day's conservative Christian beliefs and, presumably, all others who share them.

Excellent Wikipedia mining. A nostalgic return to the venerated debates during the invigorating days of the 2000 election. Fun to look back now and again isn't it? Although, it must be said, any comments made of Mr. Day exist purely as an attempt to illuminate the Minister's lack of basic comprehension of actualities and most certainly not a slight on his personal spiritual beliefs. His basic mistakes in logic are certainly not as a result of his faith but of the fact that he is not particularly gifted with any sort of aptitude for reasoning. What polite folk might call a disingenuous gasbag.

Now, with respect to this 'eau de Troll' you so derisively may be 'whiffing'. One might suggest that it could be emanating from a more proximate source. To remedy this condition, regular ablutions can be immensely beneficial.

Good day.

[GMMAC]

Working back from your Pee Wee Herman-like 'I know you are but, what am I?' conclusion, amid all your pretentious terminology there's a bottom line:
A post dredging up virtually every past leftist slur against a prominent Conservative and Canada's now Minister with responsibility for National Security.

Attacks which, both in their nature & motivation, were virtually identical to those hurled at John Ashcroft by Stateside commies not long afterward.

Far from an need on my part to 'mine' Wikipedia, I merely documented what I'd already quite easily pointed out off the top of my head in my previous comment.
Anyone involved on the conservative side in Canada's 2000 general election would have immediately recognized your recitation of the basic elements of the left's then smear campaign against us just as surely as our American FRiends would automatically identify the similar slanders spewed their way by the Rats later that same year.

Accordingly, beyond your initial comment being self-evidently Trollish and your subsequent denial of as much decidedly liberal-like, both raise quite legitimate questions as to your past and present political allegiances.

[mkjessup]

So. wasn't he supposed to have changed his name to "Doris" by now? I wonder what the hold-up is on that? Mr. Day seems to be getting in a little over his head by getting involved in a scientific debate over climate change. He should stick to what he knows best, Paleontology.

You need to change YOUR name to Barney (per your infantile post #6), because that is your approximate intellectual equivalent.

Stockwell Day is a finer human being that you could ever hope to evolve into from your present petrie dish of leftist hatemongering.

Just so there's no misunderstanding, to quote Vice President Dick Cheney in his celebrated comment to 'Rat Senator Leaky Leahy,

Go F_ _ _ Yourself!

And a 'good day' to you too, ya liddle troll-varmint.

[Calvin Locke]

...that it is something to joke about, not something to take seriously...

"Climate change" is good. It beats back pesky infestations, like the pine beetle.

Unfortunately, not the "banner chasing" moon-bats, like those that have infested the Sierra Club.

[ferri]

oh! we have a believer! here is your mission then! :)

Challenge

[Canadian Outrage]

ROTFLMAO!! Well said both of you!! Stockwell Day is MY representative and in my opinion, the absolute best!!! He's NO ignoramus. CO

[mkjessup]

ROTFLMAO!! Well said both of you!! Stockwell Day is MY representative and in my opinion, the absolute best!!! He's NO ignoramus. CO

If you should have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Day, you might save the URL of this thread for his reading amusement at a later time, of course there is also the possibility that he's already a lurker either here or on Free Dominion (our sister site in Canada)...

Enjoy your week! :)

[goldstategop]

Its the Canadian Left that are colossal jewels of glittering ignorance. To meet Canada's Kyoto commitments, the entire economy would have to be shut down. And even that drastic step would not be enough to significantly affect global warming, if it in fact exists in the first place.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Fair Go]

The left really know how to bring concern for the environment into disrepute. At the moment Australia is in the middle of the bushfire season. This is nothing new but bushfires bring horrendous suffering and death to both people and wildlife. Australia, with a population of 20 million produces a very small proportion of the world's greenhouse gases and although it has not signed the Kyoto protocol, is committed to meeting its obligations under Kyoto. I note that Canada's left wing rag, the "Globe and Mail", has carried a story on the Australian bushfires. One leftie from Ottawa had the audacity to suggest that the bushfires were "cosmic justice" for Australia's failure to sign Kyoto. Such "scum" are invariably Al Gore supporters. They couldn't give a stuff about the environment, but are using it to advance their own political cause.