Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

The Liberal party was in power in Canada for 13 years, during which time they did nothing but talk about the Kyoto Accord to reduce greenhouse gases. During that time, carbon dioxide emissions actually increased between 25% and 35%. They had the responsibility to act, yet they did nothing but talk.

The Conservative party has been in power for 1 year. The opposition parties have banded together to pass a bill to force them to meet the terms of the accord. The saddest comment of all comes from the MP sponsoring the bill, Pablo Rodriguez:

Mr. Rodriguez said he is not suggesting how the Conservatives should meet the Kyoto targets. "They are in power. They wanted to run the country, so they have to take the responsibility," he said.

Mr. Rodriguez' party was running the country and had the responsibility, yet they did nothing. So let's suppose that the government falls based on this. How long would it take the Liberals to ignore the law if they regain power?

This whole debate has also brought out the worst math skills that I have even seen. I saw one article today that suggested that to reduce emissions by 25% in four years they merely had to reduce emissions by six percent per year. Actually they would have to reduce emissions cumulatively 6.25% per year everywhere, and assume no new emissions of any kind.

The example was given that one could merely reduce the thermostat by 1.5 degrees. However, one would actually have to reduce the thermostat by 1.5 degrees in the first year, and eventually reduce it by 6 degrees in the fourth year.

Let's be rational. Elimination one quarter of the entire country's emissions will be incredibly painful to the economy. Some might even call it economic suicide. It is disingenuous and cheap politics by the opposition parties to pretend that they can legislate the government to meet targets that they never intended to.

Here's my suggestion. Tell the Conservative party to call an election. Let the Liberals win. Let them increase the taxes. Let them stop oilsands development. Let them crush the economy.

But that won't happen, because the Liberals will just ignore the law. If they did nothing about Kyoto in 13 years, why would they start now?