By Mike De Souza, CanWest News Service
NUSA DUA, Indonesia — A youth delegation protesting the Harper government’s climate change policies say that a Canadian representative intimidated them on Wednesday with a warning about Indonesian prisons to get them away from a news conference held by Environment Minister John Baird.
“He said that we might have free speech in Canada, but we don’t know if we have it here, and we wouldn’t want to be arrested by the Indonesian police,” said Elizabeth McDowell, 24, who travelled to Bali from Vancouver.
McDowell was among a handful of Canadians who held up a sign questioning the government’s leadership at the climate change conference while Baird was arriving to speak with reporters.
But she said the federal government representative who is in charge of Canadian security at the summit quickly yelled out to Indonesian police asking them to question the youth.
“He called them over and he was quite aggressive,” said McDowell.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Canadian representative was not part of the government, but defended his actions.
“My understanding is that he was watching out for them and ensuring their safety,” said Harper’s press secretary Dimitri Soudas. “He was trying to be helpful. That’s a shame that they took his kindness towards them and spun it.”
Soudas has urged Canadian reporters covering the climate change summit to be skeptical about the dozens of Canadian youth who are promoting action on global warming, since some of them are card-carrying members of the Liberal party.
But McDowell said the accusations suggest the government is scared of criticism, noting that Baird bailed out of a scheduled event the previous night to present his own climate change plan to the conference.
“I think they’re a little bit threatened by us,” she said. “They’re not ready to defend their plan because they don’t have one, and they’re not ready to defend their actions here.”
She stressed that she had no particular political affiliation, adding that the youth coalition is made up of people from all political stripes.
The Indonesian police officer who was called over by the Canadian representative asked the youth a few questions, but soon walked away after determining they were no threat to security.
The youth have complained that they have been excluded from the official Canadian government delegation — along with environmental groups and opposition parties — while industry representatives, including an oilpatch executive, were welcome. Baird has not responded to requests for a meeting with the youth, she said.
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