The [Stephane Dion] the Grits finally and surprisingly chose as the leader of the new Liberals did not exactly come without baggage himself. He was a veteran of four Liberal governments -- if not always as a war horse of the old party, then at least as a work horse for it. Astonishingly, he chose as his leadership issue the environment, even though his record as environment minister was abysmally bad, earning him a reputation as the Dr. Doolittle of climate change. The Liberal governments in which he served in had have been called the Dr. Doonothings of global warming. They complacently presided over a massive increase in Canadian greenhouse emissions even as they preached the virtues of Kyoto. And now, it seems, they want to fight an election on this dreadful record. And they might well win one.

A particularly egregious example was when Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring resulted in the banning of DDT, despite the fact that there was only slipshod science and environmental hysteria to justify it. DDT was extraordinarily effective in killing the mosquitoes that carry malaria. Banning it gave new life to malaria and brought new death to the Third World -- a conservative estimate of 60 million deaths since DDT was targeted by Silent Spring. It's what happens when politicians chase votes regardless of the consequences. It may be invigorating to watch a war of words between Oil-Can Harry Harper and Dr. Doolittle Dion, but let's at least take the time to worry about the collateral damage that will result. Here, haste makes waste with possibly deadly consequences.