Santa asked for the impossible

Ho, ho, ho, ho—it’s letter-writing time again.
The jolly old elf’s mailbag is filling up with requests from leaders around the world. The wishes begin with a hope for a world without wars; now followed by a world where the environment holds more value.
The red-suited elf finds it really hard to fill all the wishes.
Stephen Harper has written his letter to Santa asking for help in creating numbers that will provide him with a majority. Stéphane Dion has written much the same letter, asking for help to transform himself into a viable leader and one that would be accepted by Canadian voters.
Both would like an election in Santa’s bag, but worry that the election might be a lump of coal.
Both also would like Canada to pay more attention to the environment. Stéphane wants solid numbers for reducing greenhouses gases by 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent of 1995 levels.
If history is his example, when he had the opportunity to implement change, he failed to act as minister of the environment. But he would like a second chance.
Stephen wants greenhouse gas reductions, too, but doesn’t want to hold the country to specific targets.
And while he would like to create goals, he wants the rest of the world to also sign on to meet those pollution reductions.
While he talks the talk, Stephen has asked Santa for more backbone to lead and become a real leader.
The two national leaders are not alone in wanting to improve the environment. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty also wants cleaner air, having already planned to shut down coal-fired electrical generating plants across the province.
He was so confident that he could do that quickly that he cancelled pollution abatement improvements at the Nanticoke plant. When he discovered Ontario couldn’t exist without the power from the plant, he postponed the shutdown but failed to reinstate the pollution improvement systems.
He would like to make the decisions again, but is looking for divine guidance to make it possible to create clean energy while not hurting the economy.
Dalton has asked Santa in his letter for help to clean up the Golden Horseshoe’s air. He also has asked for help to improve the manufacturing base of that area of the province while not hurting the environment.
Sometimes political leaders ask for the impossible.
Across the forested areas of Canada, politicians are asking Santa to return the forest industry to the early 1990s, when there was increasing demand for paper and building materials by consumers, energy costs were low, and profits were high.
We wonder why Santa is such a jolly old guy. Well, we can laugh too when asking for the impossible.
Ho, ho, ho.

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