Joe Oliver and the Harper government in general are a national embarrassment over their approach to the climate change issue. Few people aware of the facts doubt that it's happening or that's it's serious, but Harper wants to maintain a fiction that's harder to support every year as the evidence continues to build.
Joe Oliver received consistent criticism on his tour to convince leaders that aren't forced to follow Harper's nonsense approach to reality. Apparently he and his party don't understand they can't change reality at will, just how it's being presented to Canadians...which is what the conservative government seems to be founded on.
Joe Oliver's Oilsands Tour Hits Defensive Note
Oliver's threat to take the issue of a bitumen tax to the WTO is probably empty, that would require putting the conservative "reality" to the test and it's one it would almost certainly fail.
So instead of facing reality and for instance improve the ecological viability of the oil sands by using modern nuclear power reactors to drastically reduce emissions, Oliver is going to take the typically conservative approach of no compromise until it's too late.
Joe Oliver received consistent criticism on his tour to convince leaders that aren't forced to follow Harper's nonsense approach to reality. Apparently he and his party don't understand they can't change reality at will, just how it's being presented to Canadians...which is what the conservative government seems to be founded on.
Joe Oliver's Oilsands Tour Hits Defensive Note
But he says his comments about a World Trade Organization challenge of the European measures are not a threat; instead they are just a recognition of the last resort Canada would be forced to take if Europe doesn't back down.
Oliver's threat to take the issue of a bitumen tax to the WTO is probably empty, that would require putting the conservative "reality" to the test and it's one it would almost certainly fail.
So instead of facing reality and for instance improve the ecological viability of the oil sands by using modern nuclear power reactors to drastically reduce emissions, Oliver is going to take the typically conservative approach of no compromise until it's too late.