Sustainability and Ethics in Communication

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Using Political Communication

Writing Value-Based Activist Language

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Legislating and Regulating From an Environmentalist Perspective

Thomas Mulcair has served as (1) the head of a regulatory agency (OPQ), (2) the minister responsible for environmental issues, and (3) the former leader of a party with a demonstrable "green" orientation.

After having practiced as a lawyer, Mulcair entered the public service and was appointed president of the Office des professions du Québec (OPQ) in 1987, a position that he held until 1993. He then became involved in politics, serving for a period of three years between 2003 and 2006 as the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks in the Quebec cabinet. In this capacity, he was a strong supporter of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed in 1997, effective as of 2005, that committed signatory countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He was also instrumental in promoting the fundamental human right of citizens to live in a healthy environment. Subsequently, he ran for Parliament under the banner of the New Democratic Party of which he was elected leader in 2012, and as a result leader of the official opposition in the Canadian Parliament until 2017. As the leader of a socialist party, he supported many environmentally friendly positions.

Notes From the Field

Consider this excerpt from a recent opinion piece published by Mulcair (2019):

As a recovering politician who spent many years on the very partisan stages of Quebec City and Ottawa, I have concluded that dealing with the crisis will first and foremost require a less partisan approach. To paraphrase Tony Blair, this isn’t a question of left or right – it is a question of what works and what doesn’t.

This is not the first time in recent history that we have faced monumental environmental challenges. When leaders imbued with a sense of state and a knowledge of the dangers of a situation decide to act, results will follow. When Brian Mulroney was faced with the issue of acid rain killing our forests, he never had to face anyone who denied that there was a problem.8 He and his American counterpart, George H. W. Bush, put in place a system to cap sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and allow companies to decide to buy credits or lower their emissions. What was arguably the first real cap-and-trade system was born and it was a success…

In the fall of 2018 old friends and colleagues, many of whom had been in government together going back to the 1970s, discussed what works and what doesn’t work in terms of public policy that seeks to obtain a specific result. We focused on the notion of an “obligation of result,” which is central to French Civil Law on questions of civil responsibility. As distinct from an obligation of means, it describes an intensity of obligation where it would never be enough to say you had acted in a reasonably prudent manner. You would have the obligation to produce the required result and anything less would be actionable. We agreed that that was where we needed to head. We need a way to impose an obligation of results on our governments.

Discussion Questions

  • How have Mulcair’s varied experiences as a regulator, minister, and party leader shaped his environmental agenda?
  • Should citizens impose an “obligation of results” on their governments with regard to climate change? If so, what results should they demand? How should they go about demanding them?

Consult the Experts

To learn more about environmental issues such as greenhouse gases and how they contribute to climate change, see: Woodward, J., & Buckingham, S. (2008). Global climate change. In S. Buckingham, & M. Turner (Eds.), Understanding environmental issues (pp. 175–206). SAGE.

Reference

Mulcair, T. (2019). An obligation to produce results. Inroads, 45.

Communicating Party Platforms

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