Canadian voters must demand action on climate change

The latest United Nations report on climate change underlines the shameful, dangerous failure of the international community — including Canada — to do what must be done to avert a global catastrophe.

We have just 12 years to set things right, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Unless humanity reacts this time with more determination than it has after every previous IPCC warning, it will have squandered its last chance to do what is necessary to protect and preserve life on this planet.

Released earlier this week, the report says that without fast, unprecedented action, temperatures will likely rise by more than 1.5 Celsius between 2030 and 2052 from their pre-industrial levels.

While such an increase might seem slight, it’s hugely significant.

It would mean more extreme weather, more violent storms, more rising sea levels, all of which we are already witnessing and all of which will result in more human deaths, more climate refugees, more extinct species — and drastically reduced economic growth.

Tragically, that fast, unprecedented action has yet to occur, And Canada is not honouring its commitment to being part of it.

The Trudeau government is nowhere near to meeting its own carbon-emission targets.

But whatever the federal government’s failings at least it has a plan it’s trying to advance across this nation.

In stark contrast, an increasing number of provinces are foolishly pushing in the opposite direction. Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and, for the time being, Alberta are all stubbornly opposing Ottawa’s plan to slash carbon emissions.

It’s quite possible only two provinces, British Columbia and Quebec, will have a federally-approved carbonreduction plan in place by Ottawa’s Jan. 1, 2019, implementation date. That’s disgraceful.

Cutting global carbon emissions on a massive scale — the IPCC says they must nearly be halved — isn’t easy. It will have negative economic consequences, though climate change promises far more. Moreover, Canada’s a relatively minor player in driving climate change.

But if Canadians can’t see what’s in front of their faces around the world — hotter summers, more deadly hurricanes, floods and wildfires — it’s time they opened their eyes. They must heed the overwhelming consensus not only of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change but of the world’s scientific community as a whole.

It is incumbent upon our political leaders, particularly of the Conservative variety, to propose solutions, rather than merely oppose Trudeau’s. Are you listening Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer?

Moving forward, climate change deserves to be a major issue — perhaps the issue — in Canada’s 2019 federal election. Voters should demand action from any party that wants their support.

As for Trudeau, if he’s truly determined to cut carbon emissions nationwide, he should calmly walk around the growing and hopelessly short-sighted provincial opposition.

He should avail himself of the federal government’s power to impose a carbon tax across Canada — while accommodating Quebec and B.C. which have taken action — and offer tax refunds to individual Canadians.

That last step would limit the financial hit individual Canadians might otherwise experience. It could also do something even more important: gain their support in the most important battle of our time, a battle which, if we come together and act, could be won.