Ragging the Puck

As a guy who grew up in Wales playing rugby, North American sports metaphors need some repeating for them to sink in.

Luckily, that's precisely what's happening with the phrase "ragging the puck" - and all on the climate file.

I think federal Liberal environment critic David McGuinty started it in this article when he accused the Harper government of wanting to kill time on doing anything on global warming pollution until after the next election.

Then, incredibly, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall goes to DC to tell US lawmakers that they need to "rag the puck a bit" on their global warming legislation so that it doesn't impact the Canadian fossil fuel industry, much of which is now in his home province - a reason why Saskatchewan has the highest per capita emissions in the country, ahead of even Alberta.

And finally the Toronto Star weighs in with an editorial accusing the Harper government of "ragging the puck" in the hopes that another country will scuttle the Copenhagen climate talks, letting Harper off the hook since his government doesn't really want to do anything anyway.

All this stands out for me since recently US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu also latched onto a hockey metaphor, quoting Gretsky by saying the US wants to be "where the puck is going to be" on clean energy. As a result, the US is leaving Canada in the dust on investing in the creation of new jobs in the next industrial revolution, de-carbonizing the economy.

So, what's it going to be Canada? The ploy of staying in our own end and trying to hang onto the puck by desperately defending the Tar Sands? Or, seeking to get out there and score goals by recognizing that our competitors are moving ahead on the clean energy economy, and we'd better catch up?

And, would it wreck the hockey metaphor to point out the ice is melting?

Matt Price
Program Manager
Environmental Defence