Paris - Day Nine: Remembering Maurice Strong

NOAA's 3-D picture of planet Earth at the US Pavilion.

In case you're wondering if after ten years of wandering in the wilderness, of winning "Fossil of the Day" day after day, until the organization who awards these things just gave up because it seemed impossible to shame Canada, after a decade of siding with those who obstructed and delayed international action on climate change, if it seems beyond imagining that the international community could say "all is forgiven" and welcome Canada like the prodigal son ... well, wonder no more. The world seems happy to see us.

That the world has given Canada such a welcome at COP21 might have something to do with the work of one Canadian, Maurice Strong.

Strong died just the other day - November 27, 2015 - at the age of 86. Today, at the COP venue, I had the genuine pleasure of sitting in a room with a bunch of people who knew Strong well and remembered him fondly. They told mostly-true stories about his impoverished upbringing in Depression era Manitoba, and about his truly innovative work at the United Nations - creating the idea of global concern for the environment and the wacky notion of trading pollutants to save the world.

Everything people are talking about during these two weeks finds it roots in ideas Strong brought to the international community, even the one about having a convention that lasts two weeks.

Hearing about Maurice brought home for me the toll the past ten years have taken on the credibility and influence that Canada once had.

It is a testament to the life's work of this most recently lost great Canadian that he is remembered at this COP as Canada comes back to the role it once had, without forgetting that credibility and influence are earned, not gained on the back of nostalgia and sentiment.

So I'm happy to report that Canada's pretty awesome here in Paris. Canada's negotiators have championed human rights, the rights of first nations and the plight of the least developed nations in their interventions. Canada championed, and appears to have won the day on, the "ambition" of the agreement.

Not bad for the first month on the job. Maurice would be proud.