The Smoke and Mirrors of Environmental Destruction. . .

It has always been obvious to anyone who pays attention to such matters that the Harper Party has, from its inceptions, orchestrated an all out attack on environmental regulations in an effort to create a third-world style petro-state. A central part of the HarperCon effort has been to remove the public profile of environmental issue so that as they eliminate regulations and become an international pariah and embarrassment on the environmental front, there is as little public discourse as possible on climate change and the other effects of an all-out corporate-oil economy. Muzzling scientists has been an important aspect of this strategy. The process is pretty simple; the less scientists talk about the negative environmental impacts of HarperCon policy, the less the media writes about the issue and the less people talk about such things in the public sphere. 

Of course, such a strategy is about message control and the real impacts of Harper's irresponsibility on the environmental file seethes and percolates beneath the surface. At some level Harper and his mutant dalek minions must surely know that there is no possibility of ultimate victory. In the end the environment will deteriorate, and the real impact of a carbon economy will be evident for all (even the blindly partisan) to see. The effects of Harper's environmental irresponsibility will cost our children many billions of dollars, generations of ill-health, and may in the end be irreversible. Even with a remarkable degree of media recalcitrance, the issues still burst out into the public sphere in dribs and drabs. But the destruction goes merrily on. 

But to the HarperCons all this is immaterial because they are not looking for 'ultimate' victory. They know that this is not possible because just as John Baird is a pompous  ignorant wind-bag, and Jim Flaherty is an incompetent buffoon, nature will catch up with the HarperCons and the effects of the carbon economy will be felt. You see, the goal of the Harper Party is essentially short term. While they know that they will be unable to keep the charade up forever, they also know that the longer they can hide the environmental destructiveness of the policies from the public the more money they can make for their friends in the oil corporations. They are not unlike a child who is pilfering cookies from the cookie jar while their parents are busy with something else. The kid knows that someone will eventually notice that the cookie supply is dwindling, but in the meantime the cookies are yummy and irresistible. Similarly, every time the HarperCons can muzzle a scientist, close a study facility, get rid of a regulation that protects our air, land, and water, the more time the corporations have to make a few bucks. So what if our kids die of cancer, our crops fail, our flora and fauna die off. By the time the citizens notice all of this the Conservatives who wreaked this havoc and destruction will either be dead or retired, and someone else will have to clean up the mess, literally.