When I went to Alberta recently to report an upcoming political story, there was no shortage of people wanting to talk about politics and the May 29 provincial election. But, even if the wildfires broke out earlier than usual. and raging across an unusually large forest, discussions of climate change are virtually nonexistent.
[Read from Opinion: There’s No Escape From Wildfire Smoke]
[Read: 12 Million People Are Under a Heat Advisory in the Pacific Northwest]
Smoke from wildfires has repeatedly blocked the sun in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver in recent years and has kept runners, cyclists and walkers indoors. Burnt forests, which have burned in previous wildfire seasons, line the roads I drive in the mountains of Alberta.
I went to Alberta in 2016 to cover the raging fires past Fort McMurray, but that fire, almost miraculously, claimed no lives except for a traffic accident. But the fires in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan are getting bigger and bigger, and research shows that heat and drought linked to global warming are the main causes. When the town of Lytton, British Columbiaforest fires in 2021, temperatures reach a staggering 49.6 degrees Celsius.
poll later poll showed that Albertans more or less agree with other Canadians about the need to take steps to reduce carbon emissions. But the candidates didn’t say much about it.
During Thursday’s debate between Danielle Smith, prime minister and leader of the United Conservatives, and Rachel Notley, former prime minister and leader of the New Democrats, the topic of climate emerged only in the economic context. economic.
Ms. Smith repeatedly accused Ms. Notley of levying a “surprise” carbon tax on the province and warned that any attempt to limit emissions would inevitably lead to reduced oil production and reduced revenue for the province, (( an assessment not widely shared by experts).
I asked Feodor Snagovsky, professor of political science at the University of Alberta, about the apparent disconnect in Alberta between public opinion on climate change and campaign discourse.
“It’s hard to talk about oil and gas in Alberta because it’s like a goose that lays golden eggs,” he said. “It is the source of the remarkable level of prosperity the province has enjoyed for a long time.”
This year oil and gas revenues will account for about 36 percent of the province’s total revenue. And during the oil embargo in the late 1970s, those revenues accounted for more than 70 percent of the province’s budget. Among other things, that has allowed Alberta to be the only province with no sales tax, and it has kept general income and corporate taxes low relative to other provinces.
But oil and gas production accounts for 28% of Canada’s carbon emissions, largest source in the country. Although the amount of carbon released from each barrel produced has decreased, the increase in total production will more than offset those increases.
However, the energy industry is also an important source of well-paying employment. So the suggestion that production may have to be restricted for Canada to meet its climate goals has raised alarm bells.
“People hear that and they think: my job is going to disappear,” says Professor Snagovsky. “It attacks people who are really close to home.”
He told me that he lived in Australia in 2020 when that country was affected by extreme heat and forest fires. At the time, Professor Snagovsky said, not only was there very little discussion about climate change, but politicians and others thought it was not the right time for such talks. so.
Professor Snagovsky said he hopes that the fires and smoke will get Albertans to start thinking about the effects the climate has had on them, but he doesn’t believe that will happen.
“I think it’s unlikely, but you can always hope,” he said.
Trans-Canada
A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has covered Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.
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