LITTLE SHUFFLE WINS BIG PRAISE
The Globe and the Post front, while The National, CTV News, the Star, La Presse, and the Citizen go inside with what the Globe’s Jeffery Simpson describes as a cabinet shuffle “too large to be ignored, but too small to be consequential.” Yesterday’s mini-shuffle of the Conservative cabinet went just as predicted: Former Liberal David Emerson was appointed to the Foreign Affairs portfolio, which he had been filling since Maxime Bernier’s embarrassing departure from the job, while Senator Michael Fortier was moved into Emerson’s old spot at International Trade, junior minister Christian Paradis took Fortier’s former job at Public Works, and James Moore, a thirty-two-year-old parliamentary secretary from British Columbia, was promoted to secretary of state for official languages, the Asia-Pacific gateway and the Vancouver Olympics. The swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall was a far more staid affair, according to Jane Taber in the Globe, than was the previous such event, during which Bernier was accompanied by then-girlfriend Julie Couillard in a notably low-cut dress. No such controversy this time; each new minister was accompanied only by fully clad family members.
Big Seven reviews of the shuffle are, on balance, positive. Simpson paints Emerson as a “reserved, cerebral” policy wonk ideally suited to the Foreign Affairs post - an assessment seconded by James Travers in the Star, as well as an editorial in the Globe, which deems the appointment of a “steady hand” as Canada’s top diplomat a “wise decision.” An editorial in the Star describes Emerson as a “competent” figure amid a “weak Conservative bench,” and proposes that it will take all of his skill to overhaul the Tories’ “thin” foreign policy. The paper suggests that the Conservatives are “inert on climate change, inactive on disarmament and inconsistent on human rights,” and urges Emerson to focus on building bridges with China and taking a more active interest in retrieving Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay. Meanwhile, Harper’s naked attempt to appeal to Quebec voters by filling the void left by Bernier’s departure with the appointment of two ministers from the province - in particular that of the inexperienced Paradis to the large Public Works department - has the Globe worrying that the PM has “placed geography first,” perhaps forgetting “the reasons behind the necessity for this cabinet shuffle in the first place.”
Monday Jun 23, 2008 Harper missed an opportunity by ducking meeting with McCain
John McCain can go on a fact-finding tour of the Middle East, and everyone agrees it's a smart move by a candidate who has just clinched his party's nomination for the presidency of the United States.
Friday 20 June 2008 OTTAWA: CANADA TO HOST G8 SUMMIT
On another subject, Mr. Harper says that Canada will host the G8 summit for the fifth time in 2010. The event will take place at the resort of Huntsville, ON, a remote location of lakes and wilderness north of Toronto. Mr. Harper says the themes of the summit will be free trade, global warming and human rights.
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Sunday 25 May 2008 OTTAWA: QUEBEC REJECTS ELECTED SENATE
Quebec Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Benoît Pelletier says his province is prepared to go to court to thwart the federal Conservative Party government's plan to transform the Senate into an elected body. At present, members of the upper house of Parliament are named by the prime minister. Billl C-20 would create a process by which senators would be elected. The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper maintains that this is possible with Parliament's approval. But Quebec contends such a move would be unconstitutional and that such a radical change to the country's political institutions requires a constitutional amendment approved by at least seven provinces representing 50 per cent of the population. Mr. Pelletier says Quebec still hopes that Mr. Harper will refer the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada, which he has refused to do. The minister says the Quebec government is considering referring the question itself to Quebec Appeal Court.
Wed1365
At the political level, the redistribution of wealth among the provinces, devolutionist philosophy of Stephen Harper, lack of “executive federalism” (not a new problem) and absence of a vision for the country combine to create a real reason to worry about the future of Canada.
Sunday 04 May 2008 OTTAWA: OPPOSITION PARTY DESCRIES LOSS OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
The federal opposition New Democratic party is criticizing a decision by the Conservative Party government to shut down Canada's freedom-of-information registry. The registry gave researchers, reporters and ordinary citizens access to millions of pages of once-secret government documents. The federal Treasury Board says that the registry is no longer viable. But the New Democrats say that the move is another example of the Conservative government trying to avoid accountability.
Sunday 27 April 2008 WASHINGTON: U.S. ECONOMIST CRITICIZES CANADIAN FOREIGN AID
A key adviser to the United Nations says that Canada is abandoning its global leadership role in foreign development. U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs says that the Conservative Party government has essentially done nothing on crucial international matters such as poverty, hunger, disease, climate change, and foreign assistance. Mr. Sachs adds that his pleas for Canada to take a special role in the global food crisis have been ignored since the former Liberal Party government.
Sunday 27 April 2008 Harper's blinkered view
Last Thursday, as Mark Carney of the Bank of Canada was telling Canadians that the economy had stalled and that growth will remain sluggish until 2010, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a different story for a business audience in Quebec. "I believe the reason we continue to govern is quite straightforward, because despite these uncertain economic times, the Canadian economy is strong."
HER WORD AGAINST HIS
by Daniel Casey
February 29, 2008
Back when the balance of power in Parliament was more delicate,
and the opposition wasn’t quite as desperate to forestall an
election, getting a budget passed (or defeated) took some doing. The
emerging details about the Conservatives’ alleged offer to the late
independent MP Chuck Cadman don’t make the process sound pretty.
British Columbia journalist and Cadman biographer Tom Zytaruk originally
reported that unnamed “representatives” of the Conservative
party met with the independent MP, who was dying of malignant melanoma, to
offer him an uncontested Conservative nomination and a $1 million life
insurance policy. Today, the
Globe reports that the “representatives” were no mere
messengers: Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan are the chief ideologues and
strategists of the merged Conservative party, firm Stephen Harper
loyalists who engineered his ascent to the top of the Canadian Alliance.
While Harper adamantly denies that the offer went any further than a deal
for Cadman to rejoin the Conservative party, Zytaruk
has Harper on tape saying that he didn’t “know the
details,” but that the Conservative emissaries (he does not
specifically name Finley and Flanagan) were “legitimately
representing the party,” and goes on to make a vague reference to an
offer “only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to
an election.”
At the time, Chuck Cadman denied
that the deal went beyond a welcome back into the Conservative caucus, but
Dona Cadman and
her daughter Jodi assert that it did. Cadman family friend and Liberal
MP Ujjal Dosanjh told the
Citizen that he believes Dona Cadman’s version to be “the
‘death-bed’ truth from a terminally ill man to his
wife.” Two
reports in the
Post raise a further complicating issue: A man receiving chemotherapy
for malignant melanoma would be essentially unable to get a life insurance
policy. One insurance broker stated that for a dying man, “the only
way to buy a million-dollar life insurance policy is to pay a
million-dollar premium,” and likened such an arrangement to a
“money-laundering scheme.” The
Citizen runs a confusing report about the conditions of the
Parliamentary life insurance plan, including some potential ways in which
Cadman could have upped his insurance benefits by rolling over to a
private insurance plan and paying a higher premium, but there’s no
evidence that Cadman did so or that this was somehow part of the alleged
Conservative offer. The details are tricky and the allegations are as
explosive as it gets—there is some serious reporting to be done on
this, and the Big Seven’s Ottawa bureaux should be gearing up for a
fierce race to get the full story. Start your engines.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THE LEADS:
THE NATIONAL: “Accusation
& Denials: Calls for an RCMP investigation after our report last night
about allegations of an offer made to a dying MP”
Saturday 23 February 2008 LONDON, OTTAWA: SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL CRITICIZES CANADA
One of the most respected scientific publications in the world has criticized Canada's Conservative Party government for supposedly showing contempt for science. An editorial in "Nature" affirms that although Canadian scientists are among the world's best, the same cannot be said for the federal government's attitude toward science and research. The editorial entitled "Science in Retreat" claims that science has struggled for a long time to be recognized in Canada, but that the struggle has become tougher with the election of the Conservatives in 2006. The text refers to the scepticism of the Conservatives concerning climate change and the decision to abandon the emissions reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. Industry Minister Jim Prentice responded in an open letter that Canada is determined to support world-class research and that the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper considers climate change one of the biggest threats which the world faces.
Friday Feb 8, 2008 Tories set on effecting spring vote
Crime bill becomes third potential trigger
Looking more and more like it is bent on an election in the spring, the Harper government set another potential trap for the Liberals yesterday, introducing a motion urging the Senate to pass the government's violent-crime bill by the start of next month.
Thursday 07 February 2008
HUSTINGS ON THE HORIZON
by Josh Ginsberg
It looks like Stephen Harper’s penchant for political
showdown has finally gotten the better of him. After months of election
speculation, the government has finally laid a series of booby traps that
the Liberals might not be able to tiptoe around, any one of which could
trigger a spring vote. The
Post says it will come down to Afghanistan, while CTV
News figures it will happen over the budget, although the government
could also be taken down if the Senate fails to pass the Tories’
latest crime
bill. But whatever the catalyst, it will almost certainly be on
Harper’s terms. With a series of confidence votes over the budget,
extending the mission in Afghanistan, and a crime bill that the government
wants passed immediately, the prime minister has given the opposition three
choices for how, if at all, they want to send Canadians to the polls. With
the Star
agreeing with CTV News that the budget will most likely make the axe fall
on the two-year minority government, it seems that parliament will likely
be dissolved in early March, before the House has a chance to vote on the
future of the mission in Afghanistan. The
Globe quotes an unnamed Tory source who, reeking of the late-night oil
undoubtedly burning in the Conservative spin room, says that the PM
doesn’t want an election, but is “drawing a line in the
sand” on important issues. For his part, Liberal leader Stéphane
Dion is sounding
the bell of compromise on the Afghan issue, but a mutual understanding
is unlikely on the main point of contention—whether to support the
combat mission beyond 2009. Of course, if the government falls on the
budget before the Afghan question is considered, it would mean a
significant delay in furnishing a response to NATO on the future of
Canada’s commitment.
Since we’re likely going to the polls over the budget, it is
unfortunate that today’s coverage gives little insight into what the
document is likely to contain. The only thing we know for certain is that,
due to the economic hard times, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty won’t
be rolling out big tax cuts. The Star quotes a Liberal source as saying
that the party would rather fight an election on the budget than on
Afghanistan, but it’s not clear if the substance of the budget will
have any effect on their decision. In an editorial, the
Post says it likes the two most likely outcomes of Harper’s
Afghan gamble: an election that the government would enter with strength,
or an extension of the mission. Still, the Post would have preferred that
the government wait to table its motion until after this week’s NATO
meeting to see if the organization actually comes up with the 1,000 troops
considered a prerequisite for continuing in Afghanistan. The editorial
seems to want to spare Harper the embarrassment that would come with
pressing a motion to continue a mission that he acknowledges is untenable
without more help. If the election is fought on Afghanistan, James Travers
in the Star notes, it comes with certain risks for the Tories, yet would
also expose the Liberals to attacks on an issue on which they are deeply
divided. He says Dion should have used the Manley report to galvanize the
party around a solid position, rather than risking defeat due to disarray.
Certainly, Dion has work to do in order to close his ranks before Harper
charges.
OTTAWA: ELECTION LOOMS OVER AFGHAN MISSION
The Conservative Party government has said it will introduce a motion in the House of Commons by Friday to extend Canada's military mission in Afghanistan beyond the February 2009 deadline approved by the House. There would be a vote on the motion at the end of next month. The decision seems aimed at either obtaining an extension or provoking a national election. On Tuesday, opposition Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the issue on Tuesday and says he was told that the vote on the motion would be a question of confidence. In that case, opposition by the Liberals, the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois would overthrow the government and elections would ensue. The NDP and Bloc oppose extension. However, a spokeswoman for the prime minister says he has not yet declared the vote a confidence matter. She said the motion will be based on the recommendations of an independent committee that called for an extension of the mission provided that the 2,500 Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan receive 1,000 NATO reinforcements and helicopters.
OTTAWA: CRIME BILL ALSO COULD LEAD TO VOTE
Meanwhile, it seems that an entire different issue in Parliament could also provoke an election. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has urged the Senate committee on legal and constitutional affairs to do "whatever it takes" to pass Bill C-2, the Tackling Violent Crime Act, failing which he'll advise Mr. Harper to make it a confidence measure. If the Senate, where the Liberals enjoy a majority, fails to pass Bill C-2, the minority government would fall. Bill C-2 consists of five bills that were reintroduced in the fall after the government cut the previous session short. It deals with issues such as violent and gun crimes, dangerous offenders and the age of sexual consent. The crime legislation would likely be a more attractive election issue for the Conservatives than the Afghanistan war or the federal budget.
OTTAWA: HOUSE APPROVES NEW ANTI-TERROR LEGISLATION
Canada's parliament has passed legislation to deport foreign-born terrorist suspects. The bill was accepted by a vote of 196 to 71. Liberal Members of Parliament supported the legislation presented by the Conservative government, the New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois opposing it. Last year, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down several federal laws that allow the indefinite detention and deportation of a suspect based on secret evidence presented at closed-door hearings. The new bill improves bail procedures and allows special, security-cleared lawyers to attend the secret hearings, to challenge government evidence and to protect the rights of the accused. Critics say the new law will likely spark new legal challenges.
2007
Thursday 20 December 2007 OTTAWA: FEDERAL TORIES DIP IN POPULARITY
A new poll shows a drop of six percentage points in the popularity of Canada's Conservative government. The Canadian Press-Decima survey puts the Conservatives at 30 per cent support and the opposition Liberal Party at 32 per cent. The drop in popularity comes after heavy criticism of Canada's position at the climate-change summit in Bali, Indonesia, and also after a critical shortage of medical isotopes due to the shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Ontario. Support for the Conservatives dropped across all regions of Canada and in all age groups.
Wednesday Dec 19, 2007 Tories knew about nuke plant problems in October: Liberals
The Opposition Liberals continued their attack yesterday on the federal government for its handling
Tuesday 18 December 2007 RAPED, CONVICTED AND PARDONED
The
National, the
Globe, the
Star, the
Post, and the Citizen (not available online) go inside with a pardon
from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah for a rape victim sentenced to six
months in prison and two hundred lashes. This amnesty comes in response to
the international outcry surrounding the sentence, which was meted out
because the nineteen-year-old married victim was with a man other than her
husband at the time of the attack, thereby contravening Islam’s
imperative against even platonic extra-marital intermingling. The
Shi’ite woman and her companion were both abducted and raped by
seven men last year. A first trial ended with the woman being sentenced to
ninety lashes—a punishment the appellate court found insufficiently
severe. Meanwhile, the rapists were sentenced to between two and nine
years in prison, according to The National. The Saudi king’s
pardoning decree, quoted in the Globe, oozes reluctance, upholds the
guilty verdict, but explains that mercy was in order, “because the
woman and that [man] who was with her [have] suffered a level of torture
and distress that was by itself enough to discipline them.” The Post
has the woman’s husband expressing his thanks to “the king for
his generous attention and fatherly spirit,” while the Star is the
only source to explicitly address the broader context of women’s
rights, or the lack thereof, in “one of the most conservative
countries in the world.”
_______________________________
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CAVEAT EMPTOR, BUT LESS SO
by Jordan Himelfarb
December 18, 2007
If there’s one thing the federal government and MediaScout
agree on, it’s that holiday shopping is already stressful enough
without having to worry about whether your presents will metabolize into
the “date rape” drug if ingested. With that and other similarly
unappealing possibilities looming in the minds of Canadian consumers
after a year of disconcerting product recalls, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper announced yesterday that his government intends to significantly
strengthen product safety regulations. Beginning early next year,
Harper promised, the government will have the power to impose mandatory
food, drug or toy recalls if companies fail to heed safety concerns about
their products. In addition, importers of tainted goods will now face a
maximum fine of $1 million, up from $5,000 under the current Food and Drug
Act, the
Citizen reports. The new safety measures were unveiled at a Salvation
Army, in front of a Christmas tree piled high with toys, none of which
Harper put in his mouth.
The
Globe provides a long list of the many product recalls—including
those involving more than eighteen million Chinese-manufactured,
lead-riddled Mattell toys—that got so much attention this year in
the Canadian media. The
Post has Liberal industry critic Dan McTeague chastising the
government for waiting as long as they did before developing the new
safety measures. McTeague accused Harper of using the announcement to
distract from recent Tory troubles, including the Mulroney-Schreiber
affair, the embarrassments of Bali and the Chalk River fiasco. NDP
industry critic Peggy Nash, on the other hand, focussed less on partisan
sparring and more on the efficacy of the proposed measures, promising to
promote the plan if, upon study, she finds it sufficiently stringent. In a
year when many of even the most innocuous-seeming children’s toys
were found to pose a threat to Canadian kids, the issue understandably
garnered a good deal of attention from the Big Seven. MediaScout is
heartened to see the media’s sustained focus on the story, beyond
the alarmism, through to the less sensational attendant policy debate.
Tuesday 11 December 2007 OTTAWA: CANADA SAID LOSING REPUTATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Amnesty International says Canada is in danger of losing its reputation as a champion of global human rights. The group says that since Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government came to power, it has failed to raise human rights abuses in all countries, voted against a United Nations declaration on Indigenous rights and failed to fight the death penalty. Spokesman Alex Neve also says Ottawa has played down reports that Taliban suspects handed over to Afghan authorities were later tortured. Mr. Neve does says, however, that Canada spoke out about abuses in Russia, Cuba and Burma. The comments by Amnesty International came as international Human Rights Day was being marked around the world.
Tuesday 20 November 2007 OTTAWA: PM TO ATTEND COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT
The Canadian prime minister, Mr. Harper, will attend the three-day Commonwealth summit in Kampala, Uganda, next week. One of his officials says he'll carry a "strong message of the importance of human rights to Canada." Other subjects will be Pakistan's Commonwealth membership in light of the state of emergency declared by President Pervez Musharraf on Nov. 3. There will be discussion as well on climate change, barriers to trade and vulnerability to natural disasters in the smaller Commonwealth nations. Thirty-two of the organization's 53 member states have populations of less than 1.5 million.
Monday, October 29, 2007 Photos: Harper on the World Stage he gets around!
Wednesday 17 October 2007 OTTAWA: CONSERVATIVES SAID TO DRAW A BEAD ON ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS VOTE
The Globe and Mail reports that the governing Conservative Party has a strategy to target religious and ethnic groups across the country to win over traditional Liberal Party voters in the next election. Documents obtained by the newspaper indicate that the Conservatives feel they cannot successfully woo all such voters but should target those who offer the best chances. One document cites the Toronto-area riding of Thornhill, where 37 per cent of the voters are Jewish. The document offers a breakdown of voters into visible minorities, which comprise 29 per cent of voters, and religious believers. According to The Globe, the "ethnic outreach team" is being run from both the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney, the junior minister for multiculturalism.
16 October 2007 Canadians can be proud of their country and its achievements. M.a>Working together we have built a nation that is prosperous and safe; a land where merit trumps privilege; a place where people from around the world live in harmony; a federation that is united at home and respected abroad.
Monday 15 October 2007 OTTAWA: GOVERNING PARTY RIDING HIGH IN THE POLLS
A new opinion poll shows that Canada's governing Conservative Party has enough voter support to achieve a majority government if an election were held today. The Ipsos Reid poll found that 40 per cent or four out of ten respondents favoured the Conservatives---a rise of four per cent over a poll in August. The Conservatives lead the opposition Liberal Party by 12 percentage points. The poll came one week before the Conservative Party presents its policies for the forthcoming legislative session in the traditional Throne Speech. The Conservatives are in a minority in parliament. Two of the three federal opposition parties are threatening to vote against the speech. If all three oppose it, then the Conservative Party would be largely compelled to hold an election. A Liberal Party member predicted that the government would survive the vote because Canadians do not want an election this fall.
Tuesday 09 October 2007 Forget government, hire a business leader
When there are problems, it helps to get someone who's used to getting things done
Aislin archive Aug 14, 2007
4 June 2007 Jeremy Kinsman: Diplomatically Speaking
When Mr. Harper goes to Europe
When did the G8 last do something important? It's hard to say. Perhaps the most significant thing the big industrial powers have done recently is to invite to their summit those rising nations whose buy-in is essential to global co-operation, China and India in particular.
That in itself presents some interesting challenges. At the annual meeting this week in a German resort town on the Baltic coast, for example, the Europeans are keen to "do something" about climate change. In the lead-up, there has been much talk of a collision at the G8 between the Bush administration on the one hand and the Europeans and Japanese on the other on cutting greenhouse gases.
Sunday 03 June 2007
 |
Parents of soldier 'offended' by O'Connor's assertion
Prime Minister Stephen Harper ignored calls for Gordon O'Connor's resignation Wednesday after a military family disputed the defence minister's statement that his department pays full funeral costs for fallen soldiers.
Friday 01 June 2007
Canada to push on greenhouse cuts: PM
The Harper government plans to pressure the Bush administration to accept targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at next week's G8 summit, even though neither side expects that a new global pact to fight climate change will be in before the end of 2008, Environment Minister John Baird said Thursday.
Saturday 19 May 2007
Tories produce secret instructions to tie up Parliament
Outraged opposition MPs called on the federal government Friday to make public a secret manual that instructs Conservative committee chairmen on cherry picking witnesses favourable to the Tories and disrupting parliamentary committees that want to study subjects that don't suit the government.
Partisan bickering paralyses Parliament
The House of Commons was enveloped in a cloud of partisan bitterness Thursday with the unprecedented spectacle of two standing committees grinding to a halt from government filibustering and a third paralyzed for lack of a Conservative chairman.
Wednesday 09 May 2007
Tory green plan favours oilpatch, critics charge
The Conservative government fended off opposition accusations Tuesday of favouritism for the Alberta oilpatch as various industry groups started raising questions about new federal environmental regulations that make the oilsands the only Canadian sector allowed to increase pollution linked to smog over the next decade.
Thursday 26 April 2007 Tory support slips to 2006 vote level
Harper government gets good marks on economy, but pollster finds it out of step on social or ideological issues
Tuesday 10 April 2007
Despite the panoply of international topics, we admit to a certain fascination for some local issues such as when the federal election may be called by Prime Minister Harper - and whether L. Ian is right in suggesting that " Being prime minister is the best part of Stephen Harper's job. Actually, it's the role of prime minister, as opposed to the job, that's the best part. And every day he's in that role, being prime ministerial, is one more day he's not some scary guy with a hidden right-wing agenda." tinyurl.com/2bjbub
Appointments - and musical chairs - in the new Liberal (minority) Cabinet in Quebec. One pundit remarks that "With a smaller caucus of only 48 members, he can have jobs for everyone - half his caucus can be in cabinet, and the other half can be parliamentary secretaries or committee chairpersons." The alternative is to shrink the Cabinet. Bets anyone?
And in Westmount - what are the bets on who replaces Lucienne Robillard as the Liberal candidate? Will there have to be an imposed candidate due to lack of time for due process - with all the baggage that imposition will entail? Wednesday Night does not lack for putative candidates who would like to see a spirited debate before election of the standard bearer - it is high time, in our opinion, that we were favoured with that opportunity, but we are not optimistic.
Wednesday 21 March 2007
Tories may head to polls over justice bills
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is prepared to force an election if the opposition does not stop trying to block its law-and-order agenda, says Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn.
Friday 02 March 2007
New polls shows Tories moving up
Talk of a spring election heated up Thursday with the release of new polling data showing the rising Conservatives holding an almost double-digit lead over the fading Liberals.
Friday 16 February 2007
Harper says he will respect Kyoto
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he’ll respect the Kyoto climate-change legislation forced through the Commons by the opposition — but he’s hinting the final result will be meaningless.
Wed1301 That's twice in a week that he has had to reverse himself, a bitter pill for a politician.
Speaking of reversing themselves, isn't it fun to watch the (New) Harper Government turning every shade of green in the wake of the IPCC Report. Our favorite convert is the newly-minted (would that be mint green?) Environment Minister, who, in an interview with RCI, said he did not expect the report's conclusion that human activity is the cause of climate change.' That's a surprise for me,' he told Radio-Canada. [We are NOT making this up.] He must have been expecting the report of the scientists the American Enterprise Institute tried to recruit for $10K each
Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study
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