Earlier this month, Canada’s opposition party selected a new leader. Ordinarily, such an event would attract little attention outside the country and would not be expected to greatly influence politics around the world.
But Stéphane Dion is different. The new head of the Liberal Party ran a campaign that was heavily focused on the environment – a strategy dismissed by his rivals and by the press. His victory means that a political showdown over Canada’s wilting commitment to the Kyoto treaty on climate change is imminent. The outcome may foreshadow the role that climate change will play in the next…
