Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Environment Minister Peter Kent, November 2012 – “You don’t have to convince me that climate change is a very real and present danger and we need to address it.”
Steven Goddard, November 2012 – “Both record maximums and record minimums have been on the decline, indicating that the climate is becoming less extreme. The year 1936 was by far the most extreme year in US history”.
Related! Global warming still stalled since 1998, WMO Doha figures show
Kent: “You don’t have to convince me that climate change is a very real and present danger and we need to address it.”
This is the EXACT sort of “faith” exhibited by the snake handling Evangelists of the Deep South.
Kent is presumably not an idiot.
He either doesn’t understand arithmetic, or he’s in on the GW scam.
Better is a change.
There’s scientific talk and there’s political talk. Kent is ‘doing political talk’.
The reason for this, I suggest, is that the Liberals and NDP and the Greens are all currently locked in a very public battle for control of the crowd, of those Canadians who lean in part or heavily to the left. This, by the way, is a large majority of Canadians if we lump all three political parties together.
We’ve got Justin Trudeau and Mulcair battling it out, with a great deal of constant publicity on major media, to appeal to Canadians. We’ve seen each bashing the West and oil, in different ways, with weak ‘political’ apologies afterwards. They are both after Quebec and Ontario. Quebec is cocooned from fiscal and economic reality by the Canadian taxpayer and has no sense of economic or even enviromental realities.
Ontario’s environmentalists live in the big cities, and their elected members fill the House of Commons; it’s taken years for the Conservatives to make any inroads into the Toronto electorate.
So, I’d say that Kent will ‘talk the talk’ but the actions of the government will take a different road.
What Kent ment was taxes are going up, the budget will take even longer to “balance”, we are going to lose more freedom in the effort to control the climate. Maybe it’s time to look at the Conservatives and see if they are.
Ted, life is never perfect, and politics will always be involved in government. I hope you are wrong and this is just politics. So far I have not seen an increase in taxes from the Feds. Spending yes, but if you look south you will see what happens if you try to move too fast, or even use too much math in politics. Harper has been pretty good at making incremental changes, defunding some special interest groups etc.
This week I was looking into available incentives for industrial energy reductions. The Canada gov site had links – but almost all were to provincial programs, teh feds are actually doing very little that I could see. Ontario on the other hand…
McGuinty is doing the following:
1)FIT – providing subsidies for renewables, which has increased theoretical capacity
2)Various subsidies for audits, and monitoring to tell industries what to do to save energy
3)Subsidies for capital to implement changes,
and finally, now that peak demand is down about 5 TW, and we have to buy FIT power whether we need it or not, and sell it at a loss,
4)A new program to subsidize companies that want to increase their power use so that we won’t need to sell so much at a loss to the US.
ET, boy do I hope you are right and we are not being led down the garden path. I want to think you are right. But, I remember Mulroney all to well.
I’ve already emailed Harper and told him his last environment minister was an A-hole and that I didn’t hold much hope for his new one. I’ve done my duty. Of course he sent it along to his environment minister who probably doesn’t think he’s an A-hole.
Upsetting eco-events in our “No-Frackin’ Quebec”.
…-
“Quebec minister lashes out against plans to bring Alberta oil to province”
“PQ environment minister quits after two months amid fraud claim
With Daniel Breton’s resignation, Pauline Marois’ PQ government has lost its first cabinet member to scandal a few short months into its mandate”
http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
ET, Ken, the government has a large number of irons in the fire beyond just domestic politics. First, the government is trying to complete a trade treaty with the EU. The EU would just love to have Canada blurt out that global warming is a fraud. That would cost us heavily at the bargaining table.
Yes, I know Germany is building 12 coal plants to replace 8 shut down nuclear plants. The EU has always played global warming for purposes of restricting North American economic growth. The last thing Canadian negotiators need is to have Canada hand them that negotiating advantage on a platter. So the Canadian government has no choice but to continue with the rhetoric.
Second, Canada is trying to complete Northern Gateway. What the government needs to beat down the Green opposition on this project with respect to climate change because of our supposed domestic opposition, funded and driven by US foundations. If you thought that opposition was well funded now, just wait to see the river of money flowing in to oppose this project if Canada publicly renounces global warming as a hoax.
And the importance of this project is paramount, more important than expanding to the US. The Americans get a huge discount on Canadian oil because we’re locked in.
Politics is about fighting the battles you can win right now. And the battles that have to be won right now is Northern Gateway and the EU trade deal.
I was very disappointed to hear Kent’s remarks. Sent him an E-mail,as a Conservative Party member,never heard back.
I guess the gub’mint is desperate for more tax bucks to piss away on foreign aid,aboriginal initiatives,and reparations to Quebec.
How many regulars here E-mailed Kent to let him know we don’t approve,and will raise hell if he even mentions a carbon tax?
Greg, I think that Harper is right to devolve responsibility – and power – to the provinces with regard to their energy and their environment.
I think that the federal government should focus itself on the economy, on fiscal issues, on foreign affairs and foreign trade, on security of person and property – and leave the rest to the local governments. Local governments are, by nature, faster and more flexible than central governments.
Therefore, they are closer to, so to speak, the environment and energy realities in their location. Leave it to the local people. Not to some far-off activist, secure in his Seminar Room, dealing with ideology rather than reality.
As far as Kent and the federal rhetoric, I submit, and I can be very wrong, that this is political talk. The race is on, now, for the next federal election, and the Liberals and NDP are fighting, today, for the attention and emotional support of the electorate.
The CPC can’t maintain allegiance simply by good economic policies, for, I hate to say it, but the majority of the population have zero understanding of ‘economics’. I’d bet the majority don’t know that Harper has been setting up trade alliances with other nations; that he’s been reducing corporate taxes to increase the strength of the small business community…and so on.
But they sure love trees and forests and…
Kent and the CPC want a new, legally binding carbon dioxide treaty like J.Trudeau hearts Alberta.
As for the decoupling of the climate models and real, observed temperatures. Not a problem. Just adjust the epicycles, alter the deferents, move the equant. A few dozen tweaks here and a hundred tweaks there and surely that will get this damned man-centered climate model to work. The simple solution – that catastrophic AGW is just plain old wrong and majority of warming is due to natural cycles- certainly cannot be the correct one. Remember, nature can only cool the planet and mask the C-AGW fingerprint, it cannot be the main driver of climate change.
You may email the Hon. Peter Kent at: kentp@parl.gc.ca or leave your comments at his website http://www.peterkent.ca/contact
Now that Obama has won, a carbon tax is very likely as he tries to raise revenues down south. If they do it, then so will we, so get ready for the tax on everything.
Hopefully before Obama enacts stage two of his plan, the Euro Zone will collapse and then his agenda will be sidelined. Our only hope is Obama’s blue print blows up before he can imitate it. Come on Germany, leave the Euro and save yourselves.
Mark, my understanding of the US government system is shaky at best but I think that a carbon tax bill would have to be passed by both the House of Reps and Senate. If the cap and trade bill couldn’t pass, even Dem senators didn’t like it, then carbon taxes would suffer the same fate. EPA regulation and penalties are more likely.
LC, the more current temps fail to follow the models, the more they need to lower past temperatures. The Louvre is already re painting the Mona Lisa in furs to hide the MWP.
“Kent is presumably not an idiot.
He either doesn’t understand arithmetic, or he’s in on the GW scam.”
He IS an idiot,and he does not get math,and guarenteed he is in on the scam.Same as the CINO’s in AB.
This is not a problem for young earth warmists, Greg, because climate change did not exist before the industrial revolution. A little magical dendrochronology on 13 or so trees (and a few other dubious studies) and the MWP disappears. *Poof* Every other historical and scientific record confirming it is now blasphemy that is believed only by heretics and devils.
Nobody could be more to the right in their thinking than me, however I don’t mind the carbon tax. It’s a consumption tax which is the best kind of tax and a very easy tax to collect. Hey with a carbon tax perhaps we can reduce income tax.
Ask yourself; who would you prefer to be implementing viable environmental regulations? Should it be the marxists that have occupied the enviro movement, or the tories? It’s gonna happen, Obama’s election makes it inevitable now. But when it does I am hoping it will be done properly by folks that understand how economies work. And with an eye toward repealing it once the majority see what a scam the whole thing is. What really needs to happen is to split real environmentalists away from the marxist AGW/DCC death-cult fanatics. I think that is what minister Kent is trying to do. Mediation and compromise can be a dirty business and is usually done behind closed doors for just that reason, but Kent has to do it in a fish-bowl.
Antarctica, Greenland ice definitely melting into sea, and speeding up, experts – NBCNews.com
Mercury has ice, announces NASA – Washington Post
Those damned Mercurians are stealing our ice! I knew it.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about experts, they’re experts at f*** all.” – Mr. Green in Revolver
Greg, I know life isn’t perfect and I know that you give this to get that, and I hope I am wrong, however, when you increase spending, somewhere down the road you have to cut back on services or raise more money(taxes), Seeing that we might be heading for recession, we need to be careful of spending,personal or governmental. Harper maybe doing the best he can,which says alot about us, but he is the Prime Minister of Canada and the job calls for him to lead, to the best of his ability, even if he gets voted out in the next election. I admit I have never liked him, but when he took the job, he knew that he had a certain amount of time to do what he was elected to do. The sooner it gets done the greater chance people will get over the problem and give him another chance. Nice “talking” with you.
It’s troubling when a minister says, “You don’t have to convince me …”, especially when it comes to something is utterly unconvincing as AGW. It is an irresponsible statement.
As for this being just political baffle-gab, I am not at all convinced. There just isn’t any hint whatsoever of any principle other than having drunk the AGW kool-aid. It is simply tempered by their concern for the economy. At the end of the day, the Conservative will have painted themselves in a corner with the inevitability that we will be subjected to another round of looting. And once done, it will never be undone and it will be a huge victory for Progressives. The problem with playing this game is that it is only ever the Right that compromises and that is a loosing strategy.
On the other hand …. Kent would not be the first MoE to get the boot for making stupid… comments about climate.
Sure stephen, they’ll reduce other taxes instead of finding new places to spend it (heck our “conservative” government is already spending it). BTW I have this bridge I’ve grown tired of…
dmorris, I did.
Ken,I knew you would! 😉
Let’s hope ET’s right about this one.
Never forget November, 2010. The CPC gets it.
Personaly I like the pre swetenad koolaid
Personnaly I like the pre sweetened koolaid
I went to the same high school as Kent, in Calgary, same era, with his little brother, Arthur (the Scud Stud). ET is bang on, he’s sand bagging, playing the game……… he’s a Viking for cryin’ out loud.
“….climate change is a very real and present danger and we need to address it.”……..by privatizing the CBC and Canada Post.