Climate wars gain traction before election
‘FRIENDS OF SCIENCE’ THANKS ELECTIONS CAN. FOR WARNING ON CLIMATE-CHANGE TALK
A Calgary organization that argues climate change is nothing close to a global emergency says Elections Canada is right to keep a close eye on campaign-period communications from the climate-change lobby.
In an open letter, the Friends of Science Society praises the federal agency that oversees Canadian elections for indicating that the science on climate change has not been settled.
“Thank you to Elections Canada for recognizing that climate change has become a political issue,” Friends of Science wrote in a letter to Stephane Perrault, Canada’s chief electoral offer.
The group bills itself as a non-partisan advocate for civil debate on climate change, which it says is not caused by people or carbondioxide emissions but rather simply by the sun. It argues the established consensus on climate change is driven by “foreign green billionaires” with interests in renewable energy trying to take down their main competition: fossil fuels.
Environment groups targeted by Friends of Science say the group’s response is exactly why they were concerned about Elections Canada’s decision over the summer that climate change could be considered a debatable political topic rather than scientific fact.
Tim Gray, executive director of the charity Environmental Defence, said Elections Canada’s move has opened up a “crazy space” where charities can’t release paid communications — advertising — on scientific facts for the duration of a critical election campaign.
Most polls suggest climate change and the environment are bigger issues for Canadian voters than ever before, driven by both scientific findings and people’s lived experiences of more frequent floods and forest fires.
Most mainstream political parties in Canada agree there is a scientific consensus that climate change is real, mostly caused by humans’ burning fossil fuels, and a growing threat to the safety and security of Canadians and people around the world. Which party has the best policies to address it is expected to be a key question for voters.