Green Options

This article is part of EcoWorldly’s week-long spotlight on Politicians You Can Believe In. To read more, subscribe to our RSS feed, or view our posts about politics.

(Kittens make everything cuter.)

Stephen Harper, Conservative Party leader and newly re-elected Prime Minister of Canada, isn’t many people’s ideal of an environmental hero. He once famously called the Kyoto accord “job-killing, economy-destroying,” and a “socialist scheme.” Understandably, many Canadians look disapprovingly on his environmental record.

However, for a society to achieve sustainability it must have the support conservative leaders as well as liberal leaders, especially when a conservative leader like Harper begins to take interest in the environment. Over the last several years, the Harper government has been making efforts to turn over a new, greener leaf. Despite his continued foot-dragging on Kyoto emissions targets, Harper has been at the head of some important achievements.

So, it seems that raising a fuss, and threatening to go to court can pay results. As recounted earlier in this post, Elizabeth May, leader of the Canadian Green Party was being prevented from participating in the televised leader’s debate featuring leaders of Canadian political parties with sitting members of parliament. As of this afternoon, the broadcasters’ consortium has agreed to allow her to participate, and just as importantly, the other participants have agreed not to boycott.

A video from the folks at DeSmogBlog.com: