Photo via lifesite.net

Canadian environmental guru: Jail politicians who deny climate change

By John Jalsevac,

LifeSiteNews.com

There are very few Canadians who would not immediately recognize the face of David Suzuki, Canada's environmentalist extraordinaire.

In Canada the name of Suzuki is almost synonymous with environmentalism, with his fame and reputation having been solidified by years of successful lecturing, activism, and internationally syndicated television programs, including the famous The Nature of Things. He is often described with the words "prophet" or "guru," and is widely hailed for his "wisdom." Besides having been awarded the highest award possible for a Canadian citizen - the Order of Canada - Suzuki has been the recipient of twenty-two honorary degrees.

Hence, when Suzuki speaks, Canada listens. And a week and a half ago Canada listened as the sixty-one year old scientist and activist called, again, for the imprisonment of politicians who deny climate change.

Suzuki made the remarks during a speech at McGill University.

"What I would challenge you to do," said Suzuki to the gathered students, during the section of his speech dealing with climate change, and those who deny its existence, "is to put a lot of effort into trying to see whether there's a legal way of throwing our so-called leaders into jail because what they're doing is a criminal act."

"It's an intergenerational crime in the face of all the knowledge and science from over 20 years."

The packed room of 600 listeners burst into applause. Some attendees at the speech reported that the line about throwing politicians in jail was the biggest applause-line of the night, almost bringing the crowd to its feet.

Subsequent to the speech, however, Suzuki's spokesman, Dan Maceluch, attempted to downplay Suzuki's remarks, saying that they were not meant to be taken literally.

"He's not advocating locking people up, but he is pulling his hair out," said Maceluch.

This is not, however, the first time that Suzuki has called for the imprisonment of those who don't buy into the climate change hype. While Suzuki's high-profile McGill speech has received the widest amount of media coverage, last month, in a University of Toronto speech, Suzuki made similar remarks.

"[Governments] should go to jail for what they're not dong right now," said Suzuki on the occasion. "What our government is not doing, is a criminal act."

Despite Suzuki's spokesman's attempts to dissuade the environmentalist's listeners from a literal interpretation of his words, those who attended the speech have said that Suzuki did not seem to be joking, or even speaking hyperbolically.

"He sounded serious," said McGill Tribune news editor Vincci Tsui, as reported by the National Post. "I think he wanted to send home the message that this is very crucial issue.

Suzuki is well known to pro-life and pro-family advocates in Canada for his recurrent emphasis on so-called "sustainable development" and his ongoing preaching of the idea of over-population. In Suzuki's world-view, human beings are nothing more than another species of animal - and indeed, in his own words, a "cancerous" animal - that has developed a superiority complex, leading humans to believe that they hold a privileged place in the cosmos.

Conservative commentators have reacted strongly to Suzuki's remarks as being further evidence of the ongoing whittling away of human rights in Canada, where those who disagree with the establishment, particularly those on the political and social right, are being increasingly persecuted.

As journalist Terry O'Neill wrote in an article published on Feb. 7 in the National Post, "We should also not be surprised at the intolerance that permeates Suzuki's 'lock 'em up' rhetoric. After all, despite the multicultural mantra that we 'celebrate our differences,' there's a disturbingly illiberal tendency these days (as shown in the recent 'human-rights' prosecutions of Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn, for example) to censor those with whom one doesn't agree. It's only a very small step to try to throw such disagreeable persons into prison, too."

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[02/13/2008]

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