Saskatchewan, Alberta refuse to act as climate crisis worsens
Global warming and climate change are in the news every day as the planet warms and weather events wreak havoc. We are in a climate crisis that can't be ignored any longer.
The northern Ontario First Nations of Treaty 9 and several First Nations in northern Manitoba have declared a state of emergency because global warming meant a late freeze-up and thin ice that is unable to bear the weight of the transport trucks that bring in food and building supplies.
Each winter we hear of more and more tragedies where people fall through ice and drown.
Climate change and global warming result in drought on the Prairies and a smaller snowpack in the mountains. The summers now are hot and smoky as the forest fires rage in the forests of the north and the mountains.
While other governments are making plans to address the approaching crisis, the Saskatchewan and Alberta governments have planted their heads firmly in the sand.
The Saskatchewan government has decided to break the law and not remit the carbon tax on natural gas used for home heating. This is in response to the federal government's removal of the tax on home heating oil, which is more expensive and a more onerous expense on rural people.
The average cost of the carbon tax on natural gas for home heating amounts to between $10 and $15 a month, which is hardly worth the constitutional crisis of ignoring Canadian law. But the Saskatchewan government, in its wisdom, has decided that this is the hill it's prepared to die on.
To put this in context, the Saskatchewan Party is a law-and-order government that has imposed trespass laws against our hunters, and filled the jails with people who have not been found guilty of a crime but are awaiting a court date on remand. But when it comes to themselves, they think they can ignore a law duly passed by the Government of Canada and upheld by the Supreme Court.
It's absolutely ridiculous to watch this backwater province with the population of Mississauga think it can dictate terms to a country of 40 million. Instead, this bush-league response could be solved by political change or a court decision.
The Saskatchewan Party government is thrashing about in its incompetence in dealing with teachers' labour demands, health-care delivery and staffing as well as plummeting polls in the urban areas. This ham-fisted approach to the environment is a way to cover up and create a diversion.
Somehow, at a time of climate crisis, environmental initiatives are being demonized. Canada and Saskatchewan are being hard hit by climate change with warm winters, lack of arctic sea ice and long-term drought.
It's a common refrain that Canada and Saskatchewan contribute only a small part in the overall global contribution. Again, this is a diversion and an attempt to prove that two wrongs somehow make a right.
When Canada was faced with the growing disaster of acid rain, the Mulroney government brought in legislation to curb sulphur dioxide emissions coming from coal-fired power plants and other sources.
This gave Canada the upper hand when it came to negotiating with the Americans because we weren't simply telling them to cut it out, we had legislation to prove we were serious.
That is the approach we need to take on the reduction of carbon dioxide. If we have wind and solar power in abundance as well as strict laws on emissions, we will gain the high ground and be able to negotiate with other countries from a position of strength.
Recently the Prince Albert Grand Council issued a warning that the province had to do more to prepare for the coming forest fire season. Snow cover is low in the boreal forest this winter and it could be a dry spring.
Our people live close to the land and know the state of the ice thickness, moisture content in the land and the long-term climate trends. The traditional knowledge that is held by our elders is a wealth of information that is ignored when we really need to use every tool at our disposal.