I’m getting tired of all the political theatre…
I just hung up during a conference called with Christian Paradis, Canada’s federal minister of Natural Resources. It was a very frustrating experience. The call was set up so the minister could talk about first-day discussions at the International Clean Energy Ministerial meetings in Washington. He mentioned a few small energy-efficiency related initiatives, but beyond that, had nothing meaningful to discuss. The bulk of the call — at least the part I listened in on — was about talking points. This means defending the oil sands, touting tailpipe emission standards, and defending the government’s “review” of clean energy and climate programs, many of which have been put on hold or killed entirely. What’s actually being accomplished at this international meeting by Canada, I’m not entirely sure. A few million dollars being spent on a handful of energy-efficiency projects amounts to very little.
Is this all we’re getting until the next ministerial meeting in 2011? I certaintly hope more will come out of these meetings, but I fear this is just another theatrical performance, and even then, Canada is playing a bit part.
Tags: Christian Paradis
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
