OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: We're Only In It For The Money: Morally Bankrupt Canada's Slow Descent Into Pariah Status

Even George W. Bush, of all people, supported that ban. And it really takes a lot to have George W. Bush make you look like a heartless environmental degrader. But that's exactly what happened.

In fact, in recent years many things about Canada's environmental record have been making America's record look quite good in comparison.

For instance, at this very same CITES conference this week Canada voted against a U.S. proposal to ban the international sale of polar bears skins, another animal on the decline that it seems Canada cares little about.

Then there's the collapsing Fraser River sockeye salmon population, a collapse linked by many scientists to the fish farms dotting the B.C. coast. Fish farms, it should be noted, that the government seems to consider untouchable.

I'm starting to wonder whether there's any ban this country would support, at least if there was a buck to be made in opposing it.

Of course, the most glaring of all this country's environmental crimes is the lack of government control, or even concern, when it comes to that infamous, globally-despised wasteland known as the oil sands (the single largest contributor to our title as "The World's Worst Per Capita Climate Change Polluters" - and what a magnificent title that is!).

Canada's overall environmental record may rank as the worst among the G-8 nations, and the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) may have recently ranked Canada as the "worst climate performer amongst [the] top 10 greenhouse gas emitters" and "56th out of 57 countries evaluated, ahead of only Saudi Arabia", but who really cares since, as Dave Chappelle playing Rick James on Chappelle's Show would say, "We're rich, bitch!"

Jaded Japan

Sure, you can say Japan, which imports 80 per cent of the Atlantic bluefin catch and has led the opposition to the ban, is the main villain in this whole tuna story, but, let's face it, Japan has long been a joke when it comes to anything involving conservation and the sea.

After all, Japan's government is, at this very minute, allowing its school kids to be fed toxic mercury-laced dolphin meat labeled as "whale" (as was discussed in last year's great documentary The Cove).

We're also talking about the same government that is ferocious in its commitment to slaughtering a thousand or more whales every year in the name of "research". Research that has absolutely no scientific value.

I mean, really, what do you expect from such a country?

At least they're opposing the ban on the grounds that they can't do without their beloved "hon-maguro" sushi and sashimi (that is, at least until it becomes extinct in a few years), while countries like Canada are simply opposed to the ban due to nothing more than good ol' fashioned notions of greed and lust for profit.

Morally Bankrupt

You can scoff at me all you like, but some of us can actually still remember a time when Canada wasn't completely morally bankrupt. A time, say, in the 1990s, when we weren't on the wrong side of history on just about every single environmental issue.

At this point it almost wouldn't surprise me if our government came out in support of tiger hunting. Or lead-based paint. Or the export of asbestos (oh, I forgot, as I reported in my Top Ten Things To Love and Hate About Canada piece, we already do that).

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