Harper Mouthpiece Blows It

Soudas went after environmental icon Steven Guilbeault, who is something of a David Suzuki in French Canada.

Soudas and Guilbeault met in a corridor at the conference and the prime minister’s man began shouting in front of assembled news media that Guilbeault is not a real Canadian because he criticizes Canadian environmental policy abroad.

He accused Guilbeault of orchestrating an elaborate hoax that made Canada look bad, Harper look worse and had everybody at the conference laughing at Canada’s expense.

Guilbeault had nothing to do with the hoax. It was the work of a group of American spoof artists known as the Yes Men who picked Canada as the butt of their hoax because Canada is already a joke at the conference.

It began with a fake news release, linked to a fake Twitter site, linked to a fake Environment Canada site. Very well done. Most convincing. The release, which looked like the real thing, announced that Harper had decided to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% rather than the 3% previously announced. That alone should have been a tip-off.

It also said Canada would give poor African nations billions of Canadian dollars – 5% of Canada’s gross domestic product – to help them fight climate chaos. That should have removed all doubt.

None of it was even close to true. Harper going to 40% reduction and doling out billions to Africa? Get serious!

The Yes Men, working in secret, weren’t thorugh. They denounced the first release as a fake by issuing a second release, which was also a fake. So was the Environment Canada website. The pranksters were tireless.

Was there an end to it? No, apparently not.

Another news release soon arrived, this one purportedly from Uganda, thanking Canada for its generosity to poor African nations. It too was a fake.

The responsibility for cleaning up this public relations nightmare fell upon the luckless Soudas, who couldn’t handle it, which may explain why he selected the nearby Guilbeault as his “usual suspect.”

He went all the way. He forbade Guilbeault, who is an environmental columnist for Transcontinental weeklies, from commenting any further on Canadian environmental policy. In Canada that’s called press censorship.

Guilbeault refused to obey and demanded an apology from Soudas.

Soudas refused. The prime minister’s office does not apologize. That’s because they are never wrong. If you don’t believe it, ask them.

Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice, who was at the conference, refused to get involved. He did not back up Soudas. He was left swinging in the wind. It isn’t the first time Soudas has blown his top with journalists around.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls. . .