Monday, February 19, 2007

Kyoto a killer? Or Chrysler

Remember MP from CRAP* Jeff Watson warning that any attempt to meet Kyoto targets would result in :
"job loss, anxiety, depression, bankruptcy, domestic violence, costs to employment insurance or retraining, loss of charitable dollars in communities for people who used to have high-paying jobs but don't anymore and the social services that are funded by those, and in rare instances, suicide."

And this guy is on the Clean Air Act Committee.
He was particularly troubled about "the impact of tough regulations on industries such as the auto sector", noting that he "is the only representative of Ontario and the auto industry on the committee."

Say, didn't Chrysler just lay off 2000 Canadian autoworkers in Ontario on Valentines Day?
Surely Jeff's suicide watch would more properly apply to those layoffs than to any future possible compliance with Kyoto.

Over at his "Getting Things Doner"** webpage, Jeff, a former Chrysler employee himself, bemoans the fact "The Opposition ...conceal their zeal for extreme auto emissions standards".
He explains that "his thoughts and prayers are with his fellow lineworkers", but "DaimlerChrysler will be more successful in the market of tomorrow" and "The Big 3 are making product decisions that will guarantee their future will be bright".

Well, good for them but the rest of us are gonna hafta wear shades.
And Jeff, who the hell do you think you are representing on that Clean Air Act Committee?

*CRAP - Conservative Reform Alliance Party. Jeff ran for all three.
** "Getting things doner"TM - Mes Amis

Alright, if you insist : Sex, nudes, feuds, death threats!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alison,

Thanks for my informative chuckles today . . . Went to the "sex, nudes, feuds, death threats" link.

Don't you just love seeing right-wing conservatives getting caught with their pants down? High Larious!

West End Bob said...

Actually "anonymous" above was me . . . Don't know what happened there.

Anonymous said...

"the cheap tricks. It's like a bad Tom Clancy novel."

"This is just terrible for the whole brand. We all look like a bunch of morons."

Yeah....heh.

RossK said...

Never Mind The Bullocks....

or

Check out Jim Bobby's latest:

'Sing Us A Song, You're The Enviro-Man'

.

Anonymous said...

It's too hard to change the status quo, so we better not even try.
That is until events overtake us and force us, screaming and kicking, into facing an new reality.

Thirty years ago a forward looking president named Carter saw what was down the road.
If a continued increased demand on resources by that most North American of affections was left unchecked, things would come to a abrupt halt.
His successor chose to remove any controls and instead of a soft landing, we're now on the brink of a sudden change.
And it's that rocky in between times that's most difficult.

The MP quoted has an electorate beholden to the auto industry and has been feeling the heat from them if his party is getting things doner™ about it ;)
As long as the government continues to let a free trade stance dictate a new equilibrium things will go on their merry way.
No doubt this can cause problems for CPoC MPs like job loss, anxiety, depression, bankruptcy, domestic violence, costs to employment insurance or retraining and in rare instances, a bad case of the crazy rants.

For cars, we basically follow a standard set by California, and it has about the same population as Canada.
We could have had near the same influence but it was never a priority, more like political poison ivy, until now.
Welcome to the new status quo whether we like it or not.
Smaller cars made offshore will result in lower overall CO2 emissions.
That's probably their only positive immediate impact, well that and it being a a swift kick in the pants to the domestic auto industry.

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