"The Definition Of Utter Loneliness In Stephen Harper's Cabinet Is To Be Environment Minister" - G&M

[hatrack]

The definition of utter loneliness in Stephen Harper’s cabinet is to be minister of the environment – as Peter Kent is about to discover.

Environment ministers have no natural allies in any cabinet. Finance and Treasury Board think the environment minister a big spender. Natural Resources defends the energy industry against it. Agriculture and Fisheries consider it works against the economic interest of their client groups. Industry thinks environment a job-killer. Foreign Affairs wonders if the Environment department really knows anything about the world.

To be without natural allies in a cabinet is one fate; to be the environment minister in a government that scarcely cares about the file is quite another. Worst of all, to be minister in a government whose principal environmental preoccupation is to do as little as possible on the most important international environmental file, climate change, and to protect the oil/tar sands at all costs gives new meaning to frustration. With serious action ruled out in advance, the Harper government’s environment minister must be a smooth talker. He must be prepared to repeat things that are demonstrably false – as in Canada will reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 17 per cent by 2020 from 2005 levels – with a straight face while all those around you are cracking up in derision. When necessary, the minister must bluster.

Peter Kent, a former television presenter, should therefore fit the definition splendidly of what is required of a Harper government environment minister. Since all important decisions are taken by the Prime Minister anyway, it shouldn’t matter that Mr. Kent has no background in the file nor has ever shown any interest in the issues. He is there to rag the puck, so to speak.

EDIT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/a-changing-climate-just-not-in-cabinet/article1857951/?cmpid=rss1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGlobeAndMail-Front+%28The+Globe+and+Mail+-+Latest+News%29

[phantom power]

1. rag the puck

I just expanded my vocabulary.