There is a new axis of evil in the world, anenvironmental axis of evil. Its members are Canada, theUnited States and Australia. One expects it from theUnited States, a country run in a moral void by and forthe wealthy élite, but not from Canada.

That Canada hasfallen so low from a position once of being a respectedleader in environmental reform speaks volumes about thepoor quality of national government that it has fallenvictim to.

At the recent climate change conference in Nairobi, worldleaders were highly critical of Canada’s back pedaling onits Kyoto commitments and were not favourably impressedwith the performance of Environment Minister RonaAmbrose.

France, in fact, has put forward an idea to placea carbon tax on imports from countries that do not makesufficient commitments to reducing greenhouse gasemissions, and the EU is studying the idea. Thegovernment’s failure to deal adequately with thisenvironmental issue may wind up hurting Canadianexporters.

The problems with the Canadian policies are not merelylimited to failures in the area of environmentalresponsibility; the country is also failing in fisheriesmanagement and foreign affairs among other things.

Someof the failures reach back to former governments, but allhave been amplified by the current government whoseleaders appear to be little more than sock puppets forthe nut bars in the American administration.

Soon after taking office, the new government changedtactics in the softwood dispute and caved in to U.S.pressure to settle on terms favourable to the Americans.This, after Canada has won almost every case on the issuebrought before the courts. One has to wonder whichcountry Stephen Harper and his cabinet ministers areworking for.

Recently, Canada has refused to join other nations,including the United Kingdom, in banning the practice ofbottom trawling or dragging. This fishing method stripsthe sea bottom of most life, resulting in tonnes ofunwanted by-catch that is wasted. It has beencharacterized as rape of the sea and it is anembarrassment that we do not join with other responsiblenations in putting an end to it.

The current government continues in the previousgovernment’s folly in Afghanistan. Aside from all theCanadians who are being maimed and killed needlessly inthis fiasco, the long-term effects it may have on ourmilitary and our national defence are frightening tocontemplate.

Recently we have seen Defence MinisterGordon O’Connor pleading for NATO to send more troops tobail out the Canadians, and to remove restrictions ontheir troops in Afghanistan which keep them out ofoffensive combat operations. Mr. O’Connor might considerit is with good reason that the Germans, French andItalians do not want to waste their soldiers in a dubiouswar. The question is, why is Canada?

On November 12, the federal government pledged $40 millionto microfinance projects around the world that will helppoor people access financial services. Critics havepointed out that the pledge was mostly smoke and mirrorsin that it did not actually represent a commitment to anynew funding. Besides, handing out spare crumbs does notsufficiently address the problems which the world isfacing today.

There are three major problems: Too many rich people,too many poor people and too many people. Most of ourother problems can be linked to these and the cure formost of our social and economic ailments requires that wedeal with them.

The surplus wealth held by the richneeds to be reclaimed and put to use for the publicbenefit, not doled out in tiny bits and pieces. Thosewith insufficient wealth need a better social safety netwith improved opportunities for meeting basic needs.And the world needs a comprehensive accord on populationthat addresses the fact that our planet has too manypeople for the resources available to sustain all ofthem.

None of this, of course, is being seriously addressed bythe federal government which is more interested inprotecting major corporate interests at all costs, andpleasing the current U.S. administration.

The price forCanada is the blood of its soldiers, a diminishing of itsinternational reputation and an erosion of itssovereignty — something that probably most Canadians donot want. The lives of the sacrificed soldiers can neverbe regained and future governments will have their workcut out for them to restore our reputation andsovereignty.