It’s trite to write about New Year’s resolutions at the end of the old.  But that won’t stop me, although there’ll be nothing about quitting smoking or losing weight.

Nor will much time be devoted to the federal election that 2008 might bring.  If the best that lot has to offer is what they gave us in 2007, it’s no wonder Canada’s record on global warming is, well, stinky.

Quick, which developed country will be the last to get serious about car and truck fuel efficiency?  If you guessed the USA, nice try.  But sadly, if proposed a US law passes, the last country to wake up will be…you and me.  Good old Canada.

Yes, it’s true.  Decades after California forged ahead with tough standards—now echoed in many states from the Pacific to Great Lakes to New England—the US federal government is poised to usher in what could transform an American icon: their cars.

And so, the latest global summit on climate change is over.   Be proud, Canada.  Again, we were hailed as one of the world’s biggest obstacles to doing something.  Soon, the maple leaf on your backpack in Europe won’t be such a good idea.

Oh, there was a deal eventually in Bali, Indonesia.  Just like Kyoto, Japan in 1997.  Bonn, Germany in 2002, and Montreal in 2005, but somehow emissions have just kept going up.  Come again why these global gabfests are such a good idea?