Where The Wild Things Are

Things are hectic in the nation’s capital as politicians seek to get through their respective agendas before the holiday break, and sometimes in the rush key things fall through the cracks.Two urgent issues that stab at the subconscious are the Afghan detainee issue and the upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen. The first grabs all the attention, leaving the second to escape the intense interest of parliamentarians. Yet it lingers in the back of our minds because of the consequences of our being wrong or just being irrelevant.The detainee situation is highly toxic, charged with partisanship, opportunism and genuine concern for the image of our country overseas. Yet somehow we’ve missed this international view on the Copenhagen file. Knowing that our inaction on climate change might yet result in the most serious loss of Canadian face, we have never the less been frozen in place.  While a good number of the Conservatives struggle with the kind of climate they will leave to their kids and grandkids, the truth is that the complexity of the science and a party stance that will abide no dissension leaves them on the verge of passing on to posterity a world worse than it was when they came into power.The opposition parties, all three, have put forward their own proposals for reducing carbon emissions based on international protocols, but even when they vote together in the House to demand change, little happens.In short, that little cloud of doubt you see hanging over Parliamentarians' heads is the consequence of inaction. There’s a fear that “out there” is where the wild things of rising coastlines, millions of environmental refugees, shrinking polar caps, economic decline, stripped rain forests, flooding and famine, are, and it is easier, ironically, to fear than to act.Forget the debate about climate change itself. Take away the extremes on both sides and you discover the critical mass of scientific evidence and citizen concern to be overwhelming. The Harper Conservatives know this, yet they promise standards based on 2006 levels that they know already they can’t keep. They say they are merely following the Obama model, but he has accumulated a huge force to meet those standards where we have … press releases.There’s enough blame to spread around on this issue, but the main focus of failure falls to the federal level. Tired of waiting for their federal cousin to step up, provinces have introduced their own advanced legislation for combating the wild things, permitting their fear to propel them to action.But how can a Parliament provide leadership when even legislation itself isn’t respected. In both the Chamber and in committee, majority votes are often attacked, filibustered, or just plain ignored. In the 1940s and 1950s, 96% of legislation introduced to Parliament became law.  Pearson’s minority government saw 91% enacted. But by the time Brian Mulroney came along with his two significant majority governments it had fallen to 73%.  Since Stephen Harper has taken the reins, 48% becomes the law of the land.  How can we possibly deal with climate change with such a record?  Obama gets better numbers despite the formidable opposition; Harper underwhelms because he won't work with it.Again, put the extremes aside and you still have the vast majority of Canadians who now fear what is about to come, as do their MPs.  Citizens often fail to press hard enough for change because they don’t want to lose their affluent lifestyles; politicians refuse because they fear losing votes.  How’s that for a country on the precipice of the greatest challenge it has ever faced?Most people reading this post will agree with the conclusions, if the stats about citizen concern are true.  But that is also true for politicians.  How is it, then, that we are stuck by inaction? At the federal level it is all about fear – fear of losing the vote if we take clear leadership.  And while we mull it over, the wild things creep ever closer.  The terrible force of physical nature will experience little difficulty bowling over the timidity of human nature.  The Canadian motto for Copenhagen isn’t can’t, but won’t.