Economy should obey ecology, Suzuki insists

Dr. David Suzuki, in the midst of his national 'What would you do if you were prime minister?' tour, made a stop in Westmount while on a 40-city excursion to find out where Canadians stand on environmental issues.

During a 45-minute speech that at times dwelt on politics as much as environmental problems, Canada's foremost science broadcaster took swipes at political leaders.

"As you well know, Mr. Harper's only concern as we go toward the next election is getting re-elected with a majority," he told the full house, dismissing the Conservative prime minister's attempts to play catch-up with his government's environmental policies.

"The other parties' only concern is to defeat Mr. Harper in the coming election," he added, castigating the opposition. "So they are all going to be talking about what they are doing or will do in order to gain the support of the electorate."

Citing U.S. President George W. Bush's comments made in his first speech after Sept. 11, 2001, that Americans should "go out and shop" to restore the shaken economy, he said, "consumption has become embedded as a fundamental part of our economic system."

Suzuki insisted that the economy should obey principles, parameters and conditions that are defined by ecology. "Surely, that's what we should do," he said. "The crazy thing is we've elevated the economy above everything else."

Concerning the global warming phenomenon, which continues to gain acceptance among experts, Suzuki said, "Global warming is happening. This is not part of a natural cycle and human beings are at the base of it. We are the cause. That's not for debate any longer."

Referring to the 1997 conference at which the Kyoto environmental agreement was negotiated, Suzuki, who was there, said that while many governments—including the U.S., Canada and the province of Alberta—did their best to wreck the proceedings, "the only province that came to our booth and said, 'We're on side to support you,' was Quebec."

Despite his disdain for politicians in general, he said he was proud of former prime minister Jean Chrétien when he ratified Kyoto in 2002. "Despite all of the pressure from George Bush and the Alberta delegations, he ratified Kyoto not as a Liberal, but as the prime minister of Canada," said Suzuki.

"You can't come in and then just dismiss it," he added, alluding to the current Canadian government's overall rejection of the global warming issues underlying Kyoto. "Canadians are international citizens. I don't believe that Canadians want it discarded and to move on with some other agenda. We have signed onto it and we are part of an international community."

Expanding on his distrust of political leaders, Suzuki pointed out that in 1988 George H.W. Bush successfully ran for president with a slate of environmental promises. "He became the worst environmental president the United States had ever had," he said. "He stayed the worst president until his son was elected and he became the second-worst."