30 Fairmont Park Lane S
Lethbridge, AB
T1K 7H7
Phone: (403) 328-1804
Saturday, December 23, 2006
The Editor
The Lethbridge Herald
P.O. Box 670
Lethbridge, AB, T1J 3Z7
Dear Editor,
The Herald suggests that Environment Minister Ambrose’s uneven performance is the result of micromanagement by her boss, Prime Minister Harper. (“Minister’s heavy burden not all her making”. 06/12/20, A6)
There is another source of severe stress for Minister Ambrose. Environment Canada has thrived and grown on the back of the Kyoto Protocol. The Conservative government pointed out the Kyoto emperor has no clothes prior to their election. Undoubtedly staff within the organization will react. Some may be involved in sabotage to avoid a move away from Kyoto toward more rational climate change policy. That is understandable. They may believe Kyoto is right and sense that their jobs depend on it.
We see some evidence of this kind of struggle. Three major government climate change websites have been closed to the public in recent months. Stories abound about unwarranted closure of climate change initiatives which may be justified or not. Explanations for these actions from government are at best skimpy and at worst simply missing. Do our elected representatives actually know what is going on?
Yes, Minister Ambrose is between a rock and a hard place with a difficult job. Let’s hope that she can stay in her position long enough to find out what is happening in her department. Perhaps then she can establish some discipline to inform Canadians and take us to reality with respect to climate change.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast