I think those two words are the reason for the speech by Ambassador Wilkens today.
I think the Americans would have been willing to deal with the rhetoric on Softwood Lumber, Iraq and Ballistic Missle Defense because on those issues there is legitamit debate and/or disagreement.
But saying this was going to far.
"There is such a thing as a global conscience," Martin told reporters at the Montreal conference, referring specifically to the American refusal to commit to even a watered-down plan to cut greenhouse gasses.
As is clear now, the Americans have done much more than Canada has outside of the Kyoto Agreement. Canada signed and has done nothing to reduce emissions. The United States refused to sign and their record for reducing (ok slowing growth) of emissions is much better than signators.
You can watch the speech and the response of the Prime Minister here. My favorite part is how the PM backpedals out the "global conscience" statement by trying to make it mean all things to all issues. That and he tried to tie Stephen Harper to all of this.
But it appears to me that the United States had a Jean-Luc Picard moment - This far. No further!
