“Canada finds climate sanity“ (May 19, 2011). Anthony Watts seems to think that the recent Canadian election was all about libertarianism and climate policy. Ordinary Canadians want an end to intrusive government climate change regulations! Nope, although environmental issues should definitely have been an issue, they took a backseat to ordinary political wrangling.
The Conservative party had under 40% of the popular vote but in a flawed “first past the post” multi-party system, won a majority of seats. Several “progressive” parties shared 60% of the popular vote. Hardly a consensus, although much like the Republicans in America the Conservatives are enthusiastically implementing a “business-friendly” agenda.
However it has ended global warming forever.
Wott's Up With That? 
Anthony missed the other big news in the Canadian election: the official opposition will be the NDP. As a US citizen, I wish we had a social democratic party pointing out the flaws of the “free market is always right” mentality. I look forward to seeing Layton pick apart Harper on climate issues as the conservatives push their oil-based agenda of energy and the environment.
[Indeed, Layton has already done an excellent job of highlighting Prime Minister Harper’s hypocrisy for attempting to quietly appoint three party members, just rejected in the general election, to the Canadian Senate. So much for his proclamations of accountability to the electorate, transparency, etc. The main plank of the Conservative’s election platform was a promise of political stability and “no hidden agenda”. This also appears to be falling to the wayside with new back-room decisions on carbon taxes. – Ben]