An Election Worth Fighting

So, it's out in the open.  Stephane Dion recently announced his intention to put in place a new carbon reduction initiative.  The response has been predictable - mixed. The government has had a field day, claiming falsely that it will add 50 cents to a litre of gasoline and that it will hammer middle-class Canadians. The NDP has slammed the proposal as well, even though they claim to be the party of the environment.I don't want to get into the partisan stuff here.  Rather, I think all of us as Canadians need to apply our perspective.  Have recent polls not shown that the average citizen in this country wants action on climate change and a positive vision of how we get there?  Haven't all political parties spoken in rhetorical flourishes of the need to battle global warming?The reality is that this initiative is a test on two fronts.  Yes, it is about politics and political parties.  The ultimate solutions will require policy changes; that takes legislation and that requires the parties to take the lead. Until a couple of weeks ago, that wasn't happening, but now that it has, we politicians are doing what we've repeatedly done in the last few years - taken anything that's meaningful and speaks to the future of Canadians and cut it to shreds through partisan design.But this is also about Canadians.  Just how well do they see their own future? We are told by numerous pundits that Canadians are light years ahead of where the politicians are.  Really?  If that is true and the polls show that they want bold action on climate change, then wouldn't Dion's new venture qualify as visionary leadership? "No," these same pundits say, "because Canadians don't want any sudden moves when gas prices are high and launching a carbon initiative in such a time is just a dumb idea."Better they would have said that the average Canadian is dumb.  And in that veiled assessment is the greatest irony - an unqualified belief that Canadians think only of their wallets.  I refuse to believe it.  This will be the first generation since World War Two where our children and grandchildren will be worse off economically than ourselves.  I believe Canadians think about that.  University costs will continue to soar. Parents thinks about that. In a couple of decades the polar ice cap will be gone and Greenland will lie mostly barren. Rising ocean levels will devastate coastal communities, and, according to the UN, there will be up to 400 million climate change refugees.  I can guarantee you grandparents don't want their descendants facing that.Let's be honest. The political battles lines are finally drawn because of an initiative taken by Stephane Dion - the political side of the equation is now in place. Now it's up to Canadians.  Soon they will get the chance to either create a sustainable future for their children and grandchildren or they will send the Liberal leader to the woodshed or perhaps even obscurity. At least one person has made the decision to lead and the political world is in spinning turmoil over it.  But at last it's been put on the table and the days of political inaction are over. Now it's up to Canadians. Europeans made that adjustment to carbon reduction during difficult times and they have adapted. Many American states and some Canadian provinces have made bold political moves on reducing carbon and they're moving their citizens into sustainable futures. Numerous companies and corporations in this country are already "going green" and finding prosperity in the process.  Maybe it's our time as a nation. We're either world leaders or we're not.One thing is clear: a single leader stepped forward and called us to a plan that shows some dynamic environmental leadership. His move surprised many and delighted a few, myself included. It's one thing to show this kind of vision when the public is craving it but another thing entirely when we don't know how citizens will react. The only way to settle the debate is to have an election for the sake of our children.  My money is on every single parent and grandparent out there who understands exactly what I'm talking about.  Let's get on with it.