Canadians, Your Government Hates You

This isn't the worst thing that Canada's Liberal government has done -- that once-proud nation's dystopian embrace of euthanasia and organ harvesting probably tops that very long list -- but this tweet from Justin Trudeau's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, demonstrates a similar contempt for their citizens:

This despite the fact that Canada's contribution to the tons of plastics floating around in the world's oceans is negligible -- as has been well documented, the vast majority of plastics in the ocean (between 90 and 99 percent) get there from just ten rivers, eight of them in Asia and two in Africa. Which is to say, this is less a story about single-use plastics in Canada or the U.S. than it is of poor waste management in third world countries.

Put another way, if you are a sick, sad, or poor Canadian, even if you're a wounded veteran, the Canadian government can't think of any way to help except to kill you. But if you're a Canadian who wants to serve potato salad at a summer picnic or doesn't have enough silverware for everyone who wants a slice of Granny's famous fruit cake on Boxing Day, sorry, you're out of luck.

Contempt is the only word for it.

In Holland, Suicide is Painless

Euthanasia for individuals is legal in the Netherlands, in cases of “unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement,”and has been since the turn of the century. Now the Dutch, whose self-loathing is fast approaching terminal, have decided to extend the privilege of suicide to the entire country:

The Dutch government has announced measures including huge cuts to coal use, garden greening and limits on livestock herds as part of its plan to lower emissions to comply with a supreme court ruling.

Climate litigation activists described the move as “an enormous win”. The small non-profit Urgenda Foundation, which filed the initial legal challenge in 2013, said this and earlier compliance measures totalled about €3bn euros, which confirms the impact of the world’s most successful climate lawsuit to date.

Under the new package, coal-fired power stations will have to scale back or close completely , cattle and pig herds will be reduced, subsidies will be provided to home owners to use less concrete and more plants in their gardens, and industry will have to find alternatives for several polluting processes.

“That is an enormous win,” said Marjan Minnesma, the director of Urgenda, which has 15-staff and operates out of two former school classrooms. “For many people this will give hope that it is possible to use the law as a strategic instrument for change.”

And there you have it. The Left wields the legal system to achieve through the courts what it cannot win at the ballot box. Realizing that no one in his right mind would buy the full program of privation that they're offering, they proceed incrementally, boiling the frog slowly until one day its unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement finally arrives.

Here's a bit about Urgenda:

The Dutch Urgenda Foundation aims for a fast transition towards a sustainable society, with a focus on the transition towards a circular economy using only renewable energy. It works on solutions for this transition, including for example the introduction and realization of ‘energy neutral’ houses and the acceleration of electric mobility. Urgenda views climate change as one of the biggest challenges of our times and looks for solutions to ensure that the earth will continue to be a safe place to live for future generations.

[For easy comprehension, meaningless buzzwords are in bold italic. Every one of them will cost you money.]

In other words, a return to the 18th century, plus electricity.

After a seven-year legal battle, the supreme court in the Hague ordered the government in December to reduce emissions by 15 megatonnes in 2020. The judges accepted Urgenda’s argument that climate change posed a dangerous threat to human rights and the Netherlands needed to accelerate its actions to meet its international commitment of a 25% cut compared with 1990... The headline change is a 75% reduction in capacity at the country’s three coal-fired power stations, all of which have been opened in the past five years. The government is also reportedly in negotiations to close one of these plants.

So, is everybody happy now? Of course not.

Minnesma said this should be seen as a “promising start” because the government is still about 4 megatonnes short of its obligations. She said the coronavirus lockdown should not be used as an excuse to backpedal.

They never stop, they never sleep, they never quit.