Air conditioning heating up election campaign

You might say the election campaign is really getting hot and sticky if air conditioning has become an issue.

The pioneers who built Quebec and the original residents who occupied it would surely howl in derision at the notion that this slice of Nordic paradise has a problem of too much heat. The quest for the warmth of fire as a buffer from the merciless, relentless, enduring cold is a theme for the miracle of human survival in this land.

Flip ahead in time, throw in a warming planet - blame humankind as much as you fancy - coupled with residents who have less patience and tolerance for living and working in climatic extremes, and you have a growing concern for how well our habitable structures are cooled.

This summer has been one of the hottest on record and it also has been one of the deadliest for those not blessed with air-conditioned housing or workplaces. Health officials say more than 90 people died from heat-related causes in the first week of July alone. The total tally of such fatalities this summer won’t be reported until later in the fall.

Almost all of the deaths were of elderly people, almost all of whom were living in places without air conditioning. Premier Philippe Couillard said at the time no one died of the heat in any government-run facilities, such as hospitals and care residences.

Three of the main political parties have made promises to address directly and indirectly this perceived problem of lack of air-conditioning putting people’s health at risk.

Parti Québecois Leader Jean-francois Lisée says if his party forms a government it will spend some $100 million on installing air conditioning in all the province’s Centres hospitaliers de soins de longue durée (CHSLD).

Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) Leader Francois Legault wants to replace all of the “dreaded” CHSLD facilities with modern, and yes, air-conditioned, seniors homes. He pledged to get 30 of the new homes built in a CAQ government’s first mandate, under a plan costing $1 billion.

It was pointed out to Legault that he had opposed installing air-conditioning in CHSLDS in 2002 when he was health minister in the PQ government of Bernard Landry. He says now that, due to global warming, “heat waves last longer and are more frequent.”

The Liberals don’t have a specific plan to “make life cooler” for seniors, but Leader Philippe Couillard has promised to build 1,500 new CHSLD spaces at a cost of a $525 million. Presumably, being new and modern, the facilities would be air-conditioned.

While seniors and those in poor health are the likeliest victims of heat waves, there is a growing concern about overheated students, and we’re not talking hormonally. Last week, during a spike in temperatures, three students in one school in Montreal had to be treated for heat-related sickness.

Statistics are not readily available on how many of Quebec’s hundreds of schools have air-conditioning. But, with the weather getting hotter, particularly in May and June, it’s probable education officials would want to consider having air-conditioned installed in at least the new schools to be built.

Quebec is a late starter in the roaring world-wide demand for more air-conditioning. Since its invention in 1902 by American Willis Carrier, air-conditioned has changed the world, making working life relatively comfortable in places ranging from the Deep South in the United States, to southern China, the country which, as is the case for the consumption of most modern conveniences, is leading the world in air-conditioning installations.

In Canada, Quebec is among the lesser users of air-conditioning, with about 42 per cent of homes possessing some kind of installed cooling unit. The national average is 50 per cent, and Manitoba is king of the cool at 80 per cent.

The irony of this air-conditioning mania is that all these units humming away are adding to the greenhouse gas which scientists say are causing global warming. In Quebec, where dirt-cheap electricity powers the units, it’s less of a pressing concern, but when politicians promise more air-conditioning, there’s little mention of the environmental cost.