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| Spring blossom. Foggy day. Halifax, May 2016. |
As luck would have it, I was out of town when, for the fifth time, the province released its Climate Change Action Plan.
There was one official release of the plan, four unofficial. For the record, because no one in the media has gotten it right, the first leak - to the Globe and Mail - was of a draft overview of the main concepts proposed for the plan.
The second - again to the Globe and Mail - was of an early draft of the document that would eventually be released to the public. The media story line was that the province planned to ban natural gas.
The third leak - this time to the Toronto Star - was of a pretty-close-to-final draft of the public document. The story this time was that the province had made some changes to the plan including the clarification that there was no ban on natural gas.
Just before the official release on the morning of June 8, there was a fourth leak, to the Canadian Press, of the final public document.
I learned of the fourth leak while I was listening to the radio in the cab on my way from the Ottawa airport to the Best Western Hotel on O'Connor Street. I was in the nation's capital for two days of meetings with governments from across the country to talk about the fed's game of catch up on climate change.
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The Ruler of a small and pleasant realm was travelling on the Yessir Yessir Highway to the palace of the Emperor, her boss to the fourth power, to make a desperate plea.
Ever since the scourge of the Power had come to her realm there had been, along with house-high drifts of templates, dark rumours of terrible sacrifices. The Ruler sought an audience with the Emperor to tell him of the toll being taken upon the land. She prayed the Emperor would take pity upon her and release her realm from the Power.
She hurried along the deserted highway in the pre-dawn darkness, disguised in a cloak and unattended by even her most trusted advisors.
Suddenly, a light flashed to her right. Then another. And another. The flashes were like lightning, but there was no thunder, no rain, and the brightening sky overhead was free of clouds.
The Ruler could make no sense of the flashes, but she heard voices and thought she could go safely in her disguise to investigate. She turned off the highway in the direction of the flashes.
About a hundred metres off the highway, on a rise half-concealed by brush, the Ruler saw a small crowd of Advisors from the Power. From their insignias, she could see they were higher ranking officials. They were standing in a half circle.
She watched, horrified, as, one by one, lower ranking advisors from many realms, not just the Power, all bearing templates, approached the higher ranking officials. The senior officials took the templates, bowed to the lesser officials and then kicked them from behind, sending them into something that the Ruler couldn't see, but which flashed with each fallen advisor.
A great anger seized the Ruler as she watched advisor after advisor being thanked for their efforts with a kick in the ass. She stepped from her hiding place, threw back her cloak and called to the officials from the Power.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Surprised, annoyed, slightly inconvenienced, the representatives from the Power turned to look at the Ruler.
She strode up to them, and looked at the one bearing the most senior insignia right in the eye.
"You may be vast and powerful," said the Ruler, "but you're still on my turf and you have no business treating advisors like that, here or anywhere."
"Treating them like what?" asked the most senior official from the Power, "This is how we do things. There's no harm."
"No harm?" sputtered the Ruler. "You're kicking people who have just given you everything they have into some obscure oblivion... It's despicable!"
Half amused, half genuinely perplexed, the senior official from the Power said, "This is how it works. If our bosses to the fifth and sixth powers see that we have built mountains of paper and sacrificed hundreds of lives, they will be impressed enough to listen to us."
"Don't you think that's a bit over the top?" asked the Ruler. "You expect people to die for the sake of impressing your boss?"
"Die? No," said the official. "Disappear, yes. We kick them through this portal so they can go back home and start again." The official gave the Ruler a quizzical look. "Don't you have one of these?" and he gestured at what finally came into focus for the Ruler as a kind of turnstile rigged with flashlights.
"Not as such, no," said the Ruler, an idea starting to incubate. "Thanks for your time," she said, spinning on her heel and heading back to the Yessir, Yessir Highway. "Have a good day."
[To be continued....]
Thanks for reading!
Have a great week!
Karen
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