Now is the time to listen to climate scientists, not activists

Listening to the Speech from the Throne Tuesday, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Conservatives were copying Stephane Dion's leadership campaign tactics of 13 months ago. In Dion's case, he took his climate change phraseology essentially verbatim from a David Suzuki report. In the case of the Harper government, they appear to have lifted most of their assertions from a wider selection of environmental groups, but the messages are equally unfounded nonethe-less. First, the government tells us that "Threats to our environment are a clear and present danger that now confronts governments around the world." "Clear and present danger" is a popular phrase used by environmental activists when speaking about climate change, Al Gore-trained Desiree McGraw of Montreal and Ralph Torrie, whose company produces greenhouse gas emissions software, being typical examples.