"His critics, who frequently denounce this, fail to realize it is one of the signs of his genius that he doesn't want to know too much about certain things,"
I don't know if this link has already been posted, but it may be one of the most telling things ever inadvertantly admitted by a member of this cabinet. Chretien doesn't know what's in Kyoto, but he's been told it's a good idea, which is "genius".
freerepublic.com
Prime Minister Jean Chretien's decision to ratify the Kyoto accord was based on a "gut feeling," not a detailed knowledge of the international treaty, Environment Minister David Anderson said yesterday.
"His critics, who frequently denounce this, fail to realize it is one of the signs of his genius that he doesn't want to know too much about certain things," Mr. Anderson said in a year-end interview with the Citizen. "He gets the right gut feeling. And he's got the antenna, which very few people have, the political antenna. He's right on this."
Mr. Chretien signed the ratification papers of the Kyoto accord Monday, after a vote of support in the House of Commons.
In a year-end interview yesterday, Mr. Chretien confirmed he considers Kyoto part of his prime ministerial legacy.
"Take Kyoto. I'm very proud of it," Mr. Chretien told CTV in the interview to be broadcast Dec. 26. "The Canadian people wanted it. All of you guys told me I was to break my neck. Was it not great?"
Kyoto commits Canada to reducing its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 240 megatonnes by the year 2010 -- emissions that are caused mainly by burning oil, gas and coal. By going ahead with the ratification, Mr. Chretien faced the wrath of the Alberta government and powerful business groups, who argued the international treaty will make Canadian businesses noncompetitive by increasing the price of energy, and impede investment in oil and and gas development.
But others argued Kyoto would bring an economic boom in the form of new, green technologies, and Mr. Anderson said yesterday Mr. Chretien eventually became impatient with the naysayers.
"He didn't have to have everything proved to the satisfaction of every Alberta-doubting CEO whose ingenious mind was dreaming up even more complicated reasons for saying no. He keeps things where they should be," Mr. Anderson said. "The prime minister had this view. He moved it forward."
Canada originally signed the Kyoto protocol in 1997, after international scientists warned that manmade greenhouse gases were causing a change in the global climate, with uncertain and potentially disastrous consequences. However, the international agreement proved such a complicated balance of trade, politics and scientific issues that it took the nations of the world five years to negotiate the details, and the accord was not finalized until 2001. That same year, President George W. Bush pulled the United States out of the accord, declaring it "fatally flawed" and saying it would harm the American economy.
That was a crucial moment that threw the Canadian stance on Kyoto into uncertainty, Mr. Anderson recalled yesterday.
The uncertainty dragged on through 2001 and most of 2002, with Kyoto being seen as a lone quest by Mr. Anderson with little support around the cabinet table. .
Mr. Chretien began to seriously throw his weight behind Kyoto at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sept. 2, when he unexpectedly announced he would ask Parliament to vote on ratification of Kyoto before the end of 2002.
In his year-end interview yesterday, Mr. Chretien said that he sees Kyoto as the way of the future. |
