As a gloves-off crusader against global warming, ex-Vice President Al Gore has labeled as a "complete and total fraud" the Canadian government's climate change program.

The "Goreacle" hit Sydney last week, decrying Prime Minister John Howard and describing the Australian and U.S. governments as "the Bonnie and Clyde" outlaws of efforts to curb global warming.

What's going to happen when Gore takes the podium at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver next Saturday, Sept. 29th?

The British Columbia government and B.C. Hydro are listed as sponsors of Gore's speech. The former vice president will be joined at the podium by renowned environmentalist/zoologist Dr. David Suzuki.

The province has made a much-touted commitment to reduce its current greenhouse gas emissions 33 percent by the year 2020. It pledges a policy of zero net greenhouse gas emissions from existing thermal power generating plants by 2016.

Premier Gordon Campbell has associated himself with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and basked in the publicity of a meeting with the conservation-minded Governator."

While pledging to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants, however, British Columbia is feeding Asia's carbon economy with its coal mines, and acting to facilitate major new mine projects.

It's a political tactic nicknamed "greenwashing." Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana has called on Premier Campbell to walk his talk.

After soliciting bids, the B.C. government has begun a process that could lead to approval of a massive coal-bed methane project proposed by British Petroleum for the upper headwaters of the Flathead River valley.

The Flathead crosses into the United States. It is a major corridor for wolves in repopulating the Northern Rockies, and major grizzly bear habitat. A major portion of its watershed is protected in Glacier National Park.

"South of the 49th Parallel, the Flathead watershed is one of the most protected ecosysems in the continental United States," Schweitzer wrote. "Over 60 percent of public lands in the Flathead watershed are in protected status.

"These lands account for 80 percent of the water supply into Flathead Lake, which is both the largest freshwater lake in the Western United States and one of the most pristine, large temperate lakes in the world."

The governor concluded by pointing out that there never has been industrial fossil fuel development in the Montana Flathead.

Schweitzer proposed a December meeting with Campbell, and offered help in developing "alternative economic opportunities" in southeastern British Columbia.

Campbell has delivered a chilly, haughty, patronizing response.

The premier spurned the offer of a meeting on the mine. Instead, he lectured Schweitzer on the need to join British Columbia "in taking decisive action on climate change."

The B.C. government has shown a similar carbon commitment in another corner of the province.

It has authorized Shell Oil to drill 14 test wells for a coal-bed methane project in the "Sacred Headwaters" country in northwest British Columbia, bordering on Southeast Alaska.

The area is headwaters of the Stikine River -- which empties into Alaska waters -- its tributary Klappan and Spatzizi Rivers, the Findlay River, and the Nass River -- site of one of Canada's most successful fisheries. Its name is taken from the Tahltan Indians, who treasure the area for subsistence hunting and its cultural values.

Demonstrations and roadblocks by Tahltan Indians of the Iskuit Band have blocked Shell from reaching the site.

Nor has the province distinguished itself on other environmental fronts.

Only 17 spotted owls remain in the wilds of southern British Columbia. Yet, the province has permitted clearcutting to begin in (wonderfully named) S & M Creek near Pemberton, north of Whistler. Owls inhabit the creek.

Dr. Suzuki can brief the "Goreacle" on these issues. He spends weeks each summer in the Stikine-Iskuit country.

Or at least Gore should pose Campbell a question: How can you wrap yourself in the climate change issue when your government is letting multinational oil companies pursue major fossil fuel projects in two of the most pristine, gorgeous corners of North America?