I can't believe I just heard Minister of Environment Jim Prentice exclaim in Question Period in reference to Copenhagen climate change talks:

We will not be the boy scouts at the table! Jim Prentice

Jim: the fact is most Canadians want Canada to be the boy scouts at that table.

I'm under no illusions that the Conservatives ever plan on being environmentally responsible. To them the only thing than matters is being responsible to business. Big business, increasingly owned by foreigners.

When Prentice says a key climate change report is irresponsible (Globe and Mail, Thursday Oct 29, 2009) he neglects to consider that the federal and Alberta governments have been giving the oil sands industry a free pass for the past thirty years. That of course was the plan all along - allow this incredibly dirty industry to grow unchecked and unsullied by meaningful regulation such that huge economic pain would be the consequence of real action too-late down the road.

Canadians have always wanted to be the boy scouts at the table, but our politicians have largely always stood in the way.