Article content continued

“I am an old-fashioned guy,” he said boldly in Vancouver. “I believe in the facts, and the facts are that the planet is getting warmer.”

But nobody denies that fact. The pertinent question is: how much of that (mild) warming is attributable to man? Obama’s idea of science was established years ago when he tweeted the bogus — indeed ridiculous — claim that 97 per cent of scientists believe that climate change is “real, man-made and dangerous.”

Obama was declared to be above grubby partisan politics in Calgary, but appearing at a similar event in Vancouver later that day, he claimed that mainstream Republicans had “lost control” of the party when Sarah Palin was appointed as John McCain’s running mate in 2008. No mention of mainstream Democrats having more recently lost control of their party with the arrival of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her flat-out barmy Green New Deal. But then how could Obama oppose the idea that such extreme measures were needed to save the world from neoliberalism? Sorry, I mean from climate catastrophe.

Obama ridiculed Justin Trudeau for being concerned about softwood lumber. “I was, like, ‘Dude. I’ve got Syria, the Paris Accords. Is that how we want to spend our time? On a timber agreement?’

He had used the same line in Winnipeg, but — to his infinite credit — interviewer Michael Burns noted “You just insulted us and we all laughed.”

And still Obama gave his sparkling shoes one final wipe on the Maple Leaf flag suggesting that Canada was merely paying “lip service” to its commitments to the Paris climate accord (from which his own country is now opting out entirely). He didn’t note — or probably didn’t know — that this mere lip service has thrown interprovincial relations into turmoil. And this from the guy who made a desperate “agreement” with China under which the U.S. would commit to hard reductions, while China would commit to nothing.

And still nobody booed.

Editor’s Note: Due to an editing error an earlier version of this article mistakenly characterized when Obama’s climate deal with China was signed.