"Famous Climate Change Activists"

While Al Gore may be "one of the world's most famous climate change activists", that does not automatically make him an expert, or even knowledgeable. He is a failed rich U.S. politician from a big mansion in Tennessee, and a one-time documentary film maker, with little knowledge of Canada, our workers, or our unique circumstances.

Heaven forbid ... if George Bush came up here and tried to tell us how to run our country, the CBC, the Toronto Star, David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, and all of the other usual suspects would be apoplectic. But it's OK when it's Al Gore, the man who "invented the internet" (remember THAT claim??).

Other famous activists on Al's side of the political spectrum are "One-Sheet Sheryl Crow" and "You selfish little pig" Alec Baldwin. "Famous activist" is not a moniker that automatically gives you the creds to run a government.

The left's current hero, David Suzuki, is a geneticist and the host of a TV show. He is not a climatologist. As such, he too is little more than "a celebrity activist". His opinion that "Canadians" are prepared to support a carbon tax is so flawed as to be laughable. He bases this opinion on one cross-Canada tour that drew, not surprisingly, people who agree with David Suzuki ... the already-converted. 19% routinely vote NDP, and that is about the size of David Suzuki's true following. Add a big fat punative carbon tax to fossil fuels and internal combustion engines, and thousands of laid-off auto workers here in Windsor would gladly lynch David Suzuki in public. We aren't rich cocktail circuit ideologues. It's easy to "sacrifice" $5,000 a year to save the planet when you are making $500,000 a year, or when you are an idealistic ivory tower student who makes no money, has no commitments and pays no taxes.

The Green Show in Toronto is really nothing more than a commercially-motivated gaggle of the converted in Canada's most left-wing, malignantly-entitled city, and while I too support some measure of responsible behaviour on behalf of all of us to improve our environment, it cannot be at the cost of castrating our economic competitiveness in the world. If we don't have viable jobs and industries earning us profits to pay for our way of life, including all of our treasured benefits, worrying about New Orleans (maybe) sinking back into the ocean in 50 years will rapidly fall to number 20 on our list of real-world priorities.

Thousands here in Windsor have lost good manufacturing jobs to China, the U.S., India and the developing world, none of whom have been suckered into supporting "Kyoto" ... a well-meaning, but very flawed document. This is not the time to be following "famous celebrity activists" lemming-like over a cliff of economic irresponsibility just because it seems like the cool thing to do during a slow news cycle.

Harper and Baird have got this right. Their measures are tough, they have real outcomes and timelines specified, they are responsibly-timed, they are sustainable and they are achievable. They are realistic, and most importantly, we have the leaders now in place to make them happen.

None of that was true (as history has proven!) under the Liberals. I cannot believe any living, breathing Liberal has the cajones to even open his mouth on the issue of the environment, given their absolutely abysmal record of breaking promises in almost every facet of life in Canada, and most especially on the environment.

Al Gore, Michael Moore, Bono and One-Sheet Sheryl have nothing whatsoever to teach us here in Canada. As the documentary's title so figuratively summed up regarding "celebrity activists" ... "Just Shut Up and Sing".