Stephen Harper Victory Bad News for the Environment

What does Stephen Harper's victory mean for the environment?  Not so good news.  Expect more oil sands development, less environmental oversight and more climate change dodging for four or five years.

If Canadians want to get anything done, they'll have to force Harper's hand or manage change through other means.  The international, the provincial, the local, the organizational and the personal all remain as options for moving forward.

Stephen Harper has a majority government, but he is still vulnerable to international pressures.  Wherever they might come from.  It's conceivable that international pressures will build up in circumstances where the climate continues to hand around climate disaster worldwide--as it now seems prepared to do.

It is also true that in Canada, most of the environment is in the charge of the provinces.  Provinces can set their own priorities on the environment in contradiction of Stephen Harper's business as usual approach.

For those of us who want to save the planet for our children and grandchildren, there's a heck of a lot of work to do and huge challenges.

Just like before.