Is David Going For Class Clown Status

Suzuki cranking up the crankiness

Dan Gardner
Ottawa Citizen


Friday, May 11, 2007


Yes, I know David Suzuki is legendary, revered and possibly even worshiped deep in the woods of Vancouver Island. I respect him, I really do. But still I have to say it: David Suzuki has become a cranky old man.
I know. That's harsh. But really, a couple of weeks ago, he sounded like Grandpa Simpson.
John Baird, the environment minister, had just released a report claiming that the only way to meet the Kyoto targets on time would be to take steps that would plunge the economy into recession. Baird emphasized his report had been endorsed by leading economists. Suzuki's reaction? 'First of all, let's stop listening to the goddamn economists.'
That's not a good sign. Anyone who has spent time around cranky old men knows they make liberal use of the adjective 'goddamn.' Goddamn weather. Goddamn back. Goddamn Leafs. Goddamn economists. True, Grandpa Simpson doesn't say 'goddamn,' but that's only because the censors don't let him.
More evidence followed. Suzuki said climate change itself threatens economic disaster: 'Twenty per cent of the economy will disappear. It will cost more than World War I and World War II put together. We'll go into a kind of depression we've never, ever had in all of history.'
Keep on trucking David......