I Already Googled It

There’s been quite a storm of letters to the editor mourning Canada’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Accord.  Figured I’d try and provide a different side of the story:

I’ve noticed that since the Harper government wisely withdrew from the Kyoto Accord, people are crawling out of the woodwork to denounce this decision.

A simple question: Why?

If you want to make the case for more or wiser Canadian control over environmental issues, go ahead.  I may agree or disagree with you, but it’s a different issue.  Why do we need an accord with other nations, why do we need to pay them out of our pockets, to do what we do every day without their approval – whether that be generating energy or regulating ourselves through our own government?

Why do or should we – the people of Canada – owe random countries around the globe billions of dollars because we’re a northern, industrialized, wealthy, and prosperous nation?

It’s bad enough we’re ruled from City Hall, the Legislature, and Ottawa, without being ruled by a group of bureaucrats and politicians in a random city elsewhere on the globe – whether that city be New York (as in the case of the UN), Brussels (as in the case of NATO) or Durban (as in the case of Kyoto).

We should be bringing power closer to each individual, for more accountability, representation, and freedom, not moving it further away, accomplishing the opposite.

If asserting our sovereignty lowers our standing in the eyes of other nations, who cares?  That’s what sovereignty is about.