Useless Stat

Today's completely useless statistic comes from Canada, where an Angus Reid poll has established that 77% (almost 4 in 5!) of Canadians believe in global warming.

So?

That doesn't make it real. In fact, if it turns out not to be real, is Angus Reid going to revise their headline to say "Almost 4 in 5 Canadians Duped by Environmental Fraud?"

Whether or not global warming is happening has exactly nothing to do with whether or not Canadians think it is happening. And frankly, the average citizen of any country (especially one with as crappy an education system as Canada's) is hardly qualified to make these kinds of pronouncements anyway. But I suppose with an election possibly in the works (the budget hasn't been voted on yet - but the Liberals have said they'll vote against, so we'll see) this is something politicians need to know. Indeed, the same poll shows that global warming may soon overtake healthcare as the number one election concern (note to Obama, Rodham-Clinton et al: Even after almost 50 years of the single-payer healthcare system in Canada, Canadians regularly rank it as their top public policy concern. CONCLUSION: It hasn't solved anything, you fucking morons, so keep your grubby paws off our system!!!).

Despite everything, I have an optimistic reading of these results. The Tories - who are doing their best to junk Kyoto and everyone knows it - are nevertheless almost 9 points ahead of the Grits in the polls - right on the cusp of a majority. In other words, the real "number one election issue" in Canada seems to be keeping the Liberals from taking back the government. Even NDP support is dropping. Canada is shifting right - and will be a better place for it. Here's hoping Harper gets (a) an election (he's sworn not to call one, so it really will come down to whether the Liberals can defeat his budget), and (b) a majority government out of it. Since the US seems likely to swing hard left in 2008, it would be nice to have at least one functional economy left in North America. I'll be looking for a job about then, after all...