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Response to Globe & Mail - Tories put climate change on G8 agenda after pressure from world leaders - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-put-climate-change-on-g8-agenda-after-pressure-from-world-leaders/article1603818/

Once upon a time, Canada actually led on climate change and other pressing environmental issues such as acid rain and biodiversity. That leadership came not from a Liberal, but a Conservative. Brian Mulroney didn’t wait for the US or any other country to lead on issues concerning the environment during his time as PM. He stepped in and actually affected change in the United States. He was instrumental during the ratification of the biodiversity convention and the climate change conventions in the early 1990s. At the Rio Conference in 1992, Canada helped bring the United States on board in support of the Convention on Climate Change, and was the first industrialized nation to sign on to the Bio-Diversity Accord.   

In accepting the Corporate Knights Award for being the greenest PM, Mulroney instructs, base on his own experiences: “So there are three elements to Canada playing an important role on the environment: First, leading by example, claiming the high ground.  Second, engaging the Americans, and at the highest level of government.  Third, involving industry in solutions.” - http://www.corporateknights.ca/web-stories/298-brian-mulroney-greenest-pm.html

There is a word for this. It’s ‘statesmanship’. Once upon a time, Canada was very good at it. And now? We’re the ones brought in kicking and screaming over the most pressing issues of our time. Geoffrey May is right. Our government is spending $1 billion on an event where Harper tries to sideline issues that world leaders actually want to talk about. Canada is suffering from a serious leadership deficit.