The Harper Government has pulled out of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Globe & Mail reported Thursday.

The move comes as no surprise whatsoever to anyone in Canada. However, Canadians are hanging their heads in shame at the federal government’s latest mega-diss to the environment. Maude Barlow, head of the Council of Canadians and some sort of Johnny-come-lately “drought expert, told the Globe that,

“Anything that they’re involved in that can lead to more evidence that we’re a planet in crisis environmentally they don’t want to be part of … They simply do not want this information coming forward.”

Barlow highlighted the timing of the Harper Government’s retreat from the convention coincided with a major upcoming conference on climate change and its impact on desertification globally. Which, of course, Canada will not be taking part in, for fear, it is assumed, of looking like a total dickhead among the 194 other countries (i.e. The Entire World) involved.

“How can you improve something when all the countries that are working on it together are around the table except you?” said Stephane Dion, former Liberal environment minister and big-time loser.

The federal government’s move comes at an interesting time at home, too. Recently, the federal government announced that it was divesting its interest in community pastures in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In place since 1935, these pastures were originally set up to protect soils and grasslands, and to manage the pastures against overuse. Failure to properly manage such ecosytems, in a semi-arid environment like Canada’s southern prairies, can lead to what?

You got it: desertification.

The 2.2 million acres will be passed on to local authorities beginning in 2014. According to Canadian Dimension magazine, the Saskatchewan government has “indicated that it will sell the land at market rates.”

This announcement prompted fears from critics and proponents of the “prairie commons” that the land will be sold to oil and gas interests, and thereby destroying the grassland environment that was so carefully nurtured since 1935, when the “poorly cultivated” land was in such a sad state that the federal government had to step in an purchase the near deserted prairie.

If Canada doesn’t give two shits about desertification in our own breadbasket, why the fuck should we care about it on the world stage? I’m sure the feds can find something awesome to do with the $350,000 they’ll be saving each year by not taking part in the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Something cool like panda chow, or maybe some more Economic Action Plan ads.