Yesterday, Stephen Harper stated that it is going to "take more than a slick job of political salesmanship to persuade Canadians his minority Conservative government is serious about environmental issues." It was in the same interview that he announced Canada would be 50% over its Kyoto targets come 2012.
So if Harper needs more than a slick sales job, but also has no results to point to, what "more" does he intend to do? There are few options left unless you assume that in admitting he needs more than salesmanship, he is just continuing his sales job.
On that note, the Globe and Mail recently got hold of materials from an abandoned Conservative AD CAMPAIGN that was meant to PROMOTE their so called Green Plan II.
According to the article, efforts to effectively MARKET the plan included running FOCUS GROUPS with select groups of Canadians to evaluate LOGOS, TAGLINES and other key BRANDING MESSAGES that could be used to SELL the plan to voters.
Meanwhile, the new Environment Minister John Baird has been busy posing for photo ops in wind gutted Stanley Park, and being profiled on mcleans.ca where he describes parliament as a "theatre" and himself an "actor" - a fitting reminder to this governement's green intentions. Any mention of the environment by the Tories amounts to pure performance, and their efforts to sell their Green Sham II as an environmental solution is the equivalent of Ronald McDonald hawking quarter pounders as health food.
Lets be clear. It's no surprise to see politicians actively marketing their policies, but the line gets drawn when the only product behind those marketing efforts is disinformation and green washing. Harper is continuing the green wash by trying to pass into law an environmental non-plan that - against all odds - accomplishes even less then the previous government, mostly because it was never intended to accomplish anything in the first place.
For their part, the Canadian media is all too happy to help - by keeping their focus a half step away from the issues and running stories on Harper's 'sales efforts' instead of his proven disregard for environmental action.
