Angry in the Great White North

In my last post, I discussed David Suzuki's surprising comment that the Green Party stands in the way of further progress of environmental issues politically:

Canada’s foremost environmentalist says there’s no need for the country’s political landscape to include the Green Party.

David Suzuki on Tuesday via teleconference told a gathering of Lakehead University students that as long as there’s a Green Party the environment will be tossed around like a hot potato with no real action being completed.

"There shouldn’t be a Green Party," he said, matter-of-factly and unexpectedly.

An outspoken supporter of outgoing Liberal Leader Stephane Dion’s much maligned Green Shift carbon tax proposal, Suzuki suggested having a party solely focused on sustainability and the environment will not make the impact most supporters are hoping for.

Suzuki praised Green Party Leader Elizabeth May for getting into the national television debates during the recent election campaign, but suggested her platform is one better served if adopted by more mainstream parties.

"I really think we’ve got to drive the green agenda so it becomes everyone’s agenda," Suzuki said to an Agora audience of about 150.

"But until they understand that, yes, this has got to be the way we all act, it’s going to continue to be a political football."

Suzuki delivered his rebuke of the Greens as part of his cross-Canada university lecture tour, put on by the Canadian Federation of Students, the Sierra Youth Foundation and the Suzuki Foundation.

I asked the Green Party for a response, and Camille Labchuk, Press Secretary for the Green Party, got back to me right away.  Here is the Green Party response without any editing (other than the salutation):

David Suzuki has consistently said he wants other parties to adopt the Green Party's strong environmental policies and to demonstrate the same level of commitment to battling the climate crisis. Like Dr. Suzuki, we encourage the old-line parties to embrace our ideas and advance the changes we propose.

Dr. Suzuki did not say the Greens stand in the way of real political action on climate change. Only the Conservative Party stands in the way of political action on climate change. Although the Green Party has the best action plan to address the climate crisis (as evaluated by many independent experts), the Liberals, Bloc and NDP have also shown commitment to the issue. The Conservatives have not.

In June of this year, Dr. Suzuki stated (http://www.kingstonthisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1088389&auth=Tori+Stafford):

“One of the most frustrating things that we have now is that the environment itself seems to be a political football. So, if you care about the environment, then you should vote Green. If you don’t care about the environment, then vote conservative, and then there’s the in between,” Suzuki said.

“Well, I told Elizabeth May, the head of the Green Party, that I cannot wait until there’s no Green Party. I cannot wait until I stop having to go to places to celebrate the opening of things like this,” he continued, “because this should be the only way that we do things. We need to be at a point where the values that are talked about by the Green Party are all values that Canadians have.”

I think David Suzuki's thinking has evolved since June, but it may be that we're reading too much into his most recent comments.  Hopefully David Suzuki can add some clarification soon.

Update: David Suzuki clarifies his comments.  Well, not really.