Success and Failure at COP 27

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Car fumes are killing us. So why isn't anyone telling us not to drive? | Susanna Rustin | The Guardian

 

The 27th meeting of the Council of Parties, or COP 27 as it is commonly known, was grinding down to a slow stop on Friday, November 18, 2022.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the delegates, “Ever-rising greenhouse gas emissions are supercharging extreme weather events across the planet. These increasing calamities cost lives and hundreds of billions of dollars in loss and damage. Three times more people are displaced by climate disasters than war. Half of humanity is already in the danger zone. We must invest equally in adaptation and resilience. That includes the information that allows us to anticipate storms, heatwaves, floods and droughts. To that end, I have called for every person on Earth to be protected by early warning systems within five years, with the priority to support the most vulnerable first.”

Success came when the wealthiest nations on Earth, capable of hosting distractions like World Cup sporting events, finally declared financial support for the severe weather event damages affecting some of the poorest countries on Earth. The establishment of an international Loss and Damage Fund was seen as a major breakthrough, although who would pay and how much each nation would pay was left to future negotiations.

Failure came when the delegations could not reach agreement on emissions reduction targets. Mark Campanale, Director of Carbon Tracker, issued the following statement at the conclusion of COP 27: “While critical that the goal of 1.5C survives, as reaffirmed by G20 leaders, we cannot ignore the challenges it faced in Egypt from the fossil fuel lobby which turned out in force, viewing COP 27 as an opportunity to dress up “natural gas” as a climate solution.”

It is easy to blame the international fossil fool lobby for their economic insensitivity. “Greed is good” right? “It’s not personal, it’s just business.” We’ve heard the same arguments since 1988 when the accelerating climate change crisis was first announced to the world. However, it struck closer to home as I was walking my dog in the pre-dawn hours last Friday morning. We live in a typical residential neighbourhood, and on this typical cold, snowy November morning almost every vehicle in every driveway that we passed was idling, spewing out petrochemical emissions into the air. The stench was so intense from some of the bigger trucks that we had to circle upwind around them.

Some driveways of small semi–detached homes had up to four vehicles parked. Some had super-sized pick up trucks jammed in the driveway and onto the lawn. Many were sitting idling with no one in them – the curse of the remote electric starter. Start up the truck from bed, make a coffee, have breakfast, idle the engine for half an hour, and our air quality be damned.

This is Canada. We should simply put on some warm clothes and a parka, get out our snowbrush/scraper, and clean off our vehicles! We don’t lounge around inside for half an hour waiting for our idling truck to reach an internal temperature of 22C as all the exterior frost, ice and snow melts off. It’s time to Canuck up!

Almost every community in Ontario has idling by laws. Here are some examples:

The Town of Caledon‘s idling bylaw states: No person shall cause or permit a vehicle to idle for more than two (2) minutes total in a sixty (60) minute period in an outdoor environment.

Vaughan: No person shall cause or permit a Motor Vehicle to idle for more than five (5) consecutive minutes.

Toronto: The idling Control By-law limits idling to no more than one (1) minute in a sixty (60) minute period

There you have it. Any mechanic will tell us that a two minute idle is all we need to get the engine warmed up. Anything beyond that is wasteful and can damage our engine components. We can just go out to start up the car, brush and scrape off the snow and ice, and head off on our daily rounds. We don’t need an international agreement. We just need to think globally and act locally.

We may not be able to shake some sense into the profit filled skulls of corporate fossil fuel executives, but at least we can follow our own community’s guidelines for being part of the solution to a global climate crisis. If we truly want to cut global emissions, it might be good to remember that charity begins at home. The way I see it.
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Skid Crease, Caledon

Caledon’s Third Party “Report Card”

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REPORT CARDS WERE DISTRIBUTED FOR STUDENTS IN GRADE 8 TO GRADE 12 | Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School

I recently attended the Inaugural of the new Council for the Town of Caledon and that report can be found in Just Sayin’ Caledon. Words of truth and reconciliation were spoken from the stage and the atmosphere as the event concluded was rather warm and fuzzy. As I was gathering up my gear from the media table where I had been taking notes throughout the event, a person approached me and asked, “Are you a reporter?” Context should have provided a clue, but I answered, “Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you do an article on our report card?” he demanded. It took a moment to register, but then I noticed that this person had emerged from the quadrant of the reception hall that held an enthusiastic crowd of supporters of one of the new Council members. “Don’t you like Kathleen Wilson?” he asked me.

“I don’t like most third party advertising,” I responded.

“But The Pointer has a report,” he declared.  “The Brampton Pointer?” I burst out laughing.

At that point, a very burly well dressed man from the same crowd accompanying a tall blonde woman out of the hall told me to “F*ck off.” “Well, so much for peace and understanding,” I responded. He then threw me the middle finger over his shoulder – not once, but twice.

And that was all the proof I needed as to the mindset and bias that permeated the “Caledon Council Report Card” and its creators.

First, let’s be clear on one thing. The “Caledon Council Report Card” produced by the third party advertiser “A Better Caledon” is NOT A REPORT CARD. I  am an educator. I wrote report cards for thirty years. The purpose of a report card is to describe the level of achievement, life skills and social emotional growth that a student has shown over the course of an school year. Grading is based on a teacher’s evaluation of a student’s performance.

It can include comparison of a student’s achievement level with a class average, but one student can NEVER be compared to another single student. To do so is an insidious corruption of the evaluation process. You compare students not against each other arbitrarily, but you compare their performances against standards.

This “report card” had no standards. A political report card should have the same level of professionalism as a school report card. It must describe the level of achievement, life skills and social emotional growth that an elected representative has shown over the course of a political term. Grading is based on citizens’ evaluation of a politician’s performance. The standards for politicians are contained in their Declaration of Office Oath and the Code of Conduct.

In a political campaign, third party advertisers have one job: to build up their candidate at the expense of all opposition. The goal is to make their candidate look like a silk purse and all other candidates look like a sow’s ear. Period. They are not impartial; they are totally biased, and their “facts” present a myopic précis of the whole story – sort of like six blind men and the elephant.

The very fact the “Report Card” was trumpeted in a pointless Brampton publication is proof enough of its insignificance as a valid report card. It’s kind of like getting your picture on the front page of The National Enquirer along with an article on alien babies. Absolutely pure, accurate, peer reviewed investigative journalism, eh?

Now, was the “report card” effective? Did it sway voters to believe in their highly selective set of facts? Did it “help sway an election” as headlined in a Brampton tabloid? Absolutely! But was it an unbiased, impartial report card reflecting on the true performance of our political candidates over their years of service to the Town of Caledon. Absolutely NOT.

So, strange little person who wanted a review of your partisan propaganda, here it is. Be careful for what you wish. Your “report card” gets a failing grade. The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease, Caledon

 

A Government Lacking in Maskulinity

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MASKULINITY: the qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of an intelligent, empathetic personRestore the Mask Mandate! – CUPE 3902

This week in Ontario it was announced that we had a perfect viral storm sweeping across Ontario. The flu, which had already swept across the southern hemisphere, arrived here early. That, combined with the continuing spread of COVID-19 and the reappearance of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) created this perfect storm. It is  particularly affecting the health of our children. Paediatric care centres at our hospitals are swamped trying to deal with the surge in respiratory illnesses.

Doctors and Medical Officers of Health across Ontario are asking us to do one simple thing: WEAR A MASK!  They are even asking for the province to reinstate the mask mandate. But Dr. Kieran Moore takes his marching orders from Premier Ford. And the good premier, sadly lacking in maskulinity, is making wearing a mask in public settings optional. The reason? Fear of the rabid 30% of the Canadian population who are aggressive and intimidating anti-maskers. Yes, a recent Nanos Research poll found that 70% of Canadians would support a return to the mask mandate in order to calm this perfect storm.

I would hazard a guess that these 30% also support the misguided Freedumb Philosophy of the Ottawa  occupation terrorist Fruckers, anti-vaxxers, anti-science, anti-community health mob. Possibly also some of the crowd who painted their trucks and protest signs with slogans that they wanted to have sex with our Prime Minister.

And so this populist government will respond as it always has to a crisis. It will keep Ontario Open for Business until  perfect storm peaks in the winter of 2023 and the health care system is overwhelmed. It will wait until parents and children start to die, Remember that old adage: “A stitch in time saves nine.” It would be important for this government to remember it’s better to solve a problem right away, to stop it becoming a much bigger one.

A return to a mask mandate is that stitch in time. The resistant 30% need to up their maskulinity before we all pay the piper for their selfishness. The way I see it.

***

Skid Crease, Caledon

* image from CUPE 3902

Doug Ford and the Children

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford, 9:00 a.m. Monday November 7, 2022:

“As a gesture of good faith our government is willing to rescind the legislation, are willing to rescind section 33, but only if CUPE agrees to show a similar gesture of good faith by stopping their strike, and letting our kids back into their classrooms.”

 

The following Q & A is a satire of the press conference that followed that statement ….

Q: Premier Ford, have you changed your position on your use of the notwithstanding clause because of the threat of a general strike across Ontario?

A: No, no, not at all. The only thing I ever wanted was to keep kids in the classroom so that their parents could get back to work to Make Ontario Great Again. Those poor kids, their little psyches scarred from staying at home, their marks falling, my popularity plummeting. Look it’s all about caring for the little children, getting them back in the classroom. (soft weeping sound)  I do it all for the kids.

Q: Premier Ford, is it true that you were receiving pressure from business and labour leaders across the country that your use of the notwithstanding clause was a really, really bad idea?

A: No, no, not at all. The only thing I ever wanted was to keep kids in the classroom so that their parents could get back to work to Make Ontario Great Again. Those poor kids, their little psyches scarred from staying at home, their marks falling, my popularity plummeting. Look it’s all about caring for the little children, getting them back in the classroom. (soft weeping sound)  I do it all for the kids.

Q: Premier Ford, has pressure from this political protest, coupled with the public outcry over your broken promise to never open the Greenbelt to developers, placed your leadership in jeopardy?

A: No, no, not at all. All these little children I love will need homes one day once they graduate, or drop out like I did. The only thing I ever wanted was to keep kids in the classroom so that their parents could get back to work to Make Ontario Great Again. These kids will get jobs and buy homes in the former Greenbelt one day. Look it’s all about caring for the little children, getting them back in the classroom. (soft weeping sound)  I do it all for the kids.

Q: Premier Ford, are the developers who want to build homes in the former Greenbelt under pressure from their labour unions to get you to reverse your stance on the ill-advised use of the notwithstanding clause.

A: No, no,not at all. The construction guys and gals love me. The only thing I ever wanted was to keep kids in the classroom so that their parents could get back to work to Make Ontario Great Again. Those poor kids, their little psyches scarred from staying at home, their marks falling, my popularity plummeting. Look it’s all about caring for the little children, getting them back in the classroom. (soft weeping sound)  I do it all for the kids.

Q: Premier Ford, some have criticized the content and tone of your speech this morning as insincere. What is your comment on that observation.

A: Hey, it worked during the last Ontario election, We’ll just keep numbing and dumbing Ontario down until we win another majority. My marketing team can take toxic manure and spin it into sentimental mush faster than you can drain a wetland. Once we shift all the blame for this disruption to CUPE, the public will be back on our side. Those poor children, those suffering parents. After this great speech, everyone’s gonna believe that I do it all for the kids. Really.

***

UPDATE: Within hours of the Premier’s announcement, CUPE announced that their workers will be back in the classrooms on Tuesday. Now let’s see how long “as soon as possible’ is for the Ford government to repeal Bill 28 in its entirety, as promised.

Skid Crease, Caledon

 

The Morning After Pill

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Last night, at 8:00 p.m. when the polls closed on our 2022 Ontario municipal elections, I dutifully removed all my election signs from my lawn. The party was over, the votes had been cast, the people would have chosen, and we awaited the results. I had selected my candidate for Mayor based on her qualifications, track record and lifelong defence of the Town of Caledon. But sometimes the best person for the job doesn’t always win. Sometimes the person with the most signs wins.

This morning I woke up early to find an illegally placed “Annette Groves for Mayor” sign on my front lawn without my permission. There are only a few people in Town stupid enough to ever put that name on my lawn. It was one of those low-life vindictive touches that only the bottom of the barrel can deliver. I burst out laughing. That gesture said it all: this is what we can expect in Caledon for the next four years, so we might as well get a good chuckle out of it.

When I was asked for a prediction for the election last week. I replied, “In a world that could elect Donald Trump president of the USA, Doug Ford as premier of Ontario, Pierre Poilievre as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and Danielle Smith as leader of the United Conservative Party of Alberta,  anything is possible.” 

The people are a little crazy right now with pandemic weariness, economic pressures, and populist fake news that has made our minds numb. In that state it is easy to fall prey to the most aggressive predator, to take out our frustration on “the other”, to be swayed by misinformation.

And so we make bad decisions. There is no morning after pill for this one. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’ve got four years before the next report card is delivered, and we’ll be using the new “full disclosure”  curriculum to evaluate this Council’s progress. It’s hard to beat honesty and integrity. The way I see it.

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Skid Crease, Caledon