Welcome to “Life in a Conservative Province” also known as “they say the wackiest things.”
“They” being conservative premiers who say idiotic things when asked: how do you reconcile your government’s policies with the impact of climate change on the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires?
Before we get into the politics of wildfires, let’s consider the facts.
The magnitude of problem
Right now there are over 400 wildfires burning across 3.8 million hectares in Canada. Over half of them are out of control. More than 30,000 people have been displaced and the health of millions more has been negatively impacted by smoke carrying toxic particulates into their homes and workplaces.
To put that into perspective, Armel Castellan, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says in the late 1990s the number of smoke hours experienced at the Calgary airport averaged 10 hours/year. Today, the average is 100 hours/year. That’s a ten-fold increase.
These fires are bigger and move faster than ever before. They’re so intense they create their own weather systems.
It’s June. We’re not yet in the hottest months of the year.
Politicians say what we’re experiencing is “unprecedented” however these fires have been the norm since the Fort McMurray fire chief christened the Fort Mac fire “The Beast” in 2016.
The politicians
It’s not surprising that the public wants to know whether their political leaders see a connection between climate change and these terrifying wildfires. But when asked the question, their feckless leaders run for cover.
Doug Ford accused the NDP opposition of “politicizing” the issue by asking the question. (A common diversionary tactic when a politician’s ideology takes him down a rabbit hole).
Similarly, when talk show host Ryan Jespersen asked Danielle Smith to comment on whether climate change played a role in the increase in frequency and intensity of wildfires, Smith suggested arsonists could be responsible, thereby giving credence to the theory circulating on social media that arsonists armed with nefarious political agendas were setting the province on fire.
But here’s the thing. Experts like fire research scientist, Xianli Wang, say climate change is a significant factor no matter how these fires start (about half are caused by lightning and the other half by humans) because the hot dry conditions we are now experiencing make the fuel (plants, logs) drier causing fires to burn more intensely and to cover more ground.
The political response
Even a politician blinded by ideology can’t argue with the fact that 3.8 million hectares of Canada are on fire.
So here’s a suggestion.
Let’s take Ford and Smith’s statements at face value (yes, I know it’s hard but bear with me).
Let’s assume that we, the governed, are not allowed to ask those who govern us to consider whether climate change plays a role in wildfires because this would force them to reconsider their unbridled support for the fossil fuel industry.
Let’s also assume a mad mob of arsonists is running around the countryside setting great swaths of Alberta ablaze.
What is Danielle Smith going to do about it?
Pulling in more resources from the US, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, and South Africa and dropping $1,250 in compensation on those who’ve been turned out of their homes for more than seven days is, at best, a short term solution.
Smith needs a long term plan.
She must reverse Jason Kenney’s cuts to the firefighting budget and in fact increase it by millions of dollars in order to meet the government’s stated firefighting objectives of:
- containing the spread of a fire by 10 a.m. the day after it’s detected, and
- starting suppression activity before the fire grows larger than 2 hectares (4.9 acres) in size.
She needs to significantly increase manpower for lookout crews who detect fires–they catch about 30% of the fires, the rest are spotted by aerial detection and other means–and firefighters and emergency personnel who extinguish fires and evacuate affected communities.
She must beef up the government’s fleet of aircraft, airtankers, and helicopters, acquire more equipment and supplies for fire suppression, build more warehousing to store this stuff, build more facilities to repair and refurbish equipment, expand radio tech services, and set up more fire camps, lookouts and airtanker bases.
She needs to set aside billions to cover the cost of evacuation, compensation (including skyrocketing insurance costs), and rebuilding burned out communities, to say nothing of addressing the strain on our healthcare system as diseases caused by toxic smoke inhalation increase.
And she’d better be prepared to increase the budget year over year because the situation is only going to get worse.
Oh, and with respect to those arsonists, perhaps she could hire a bunch of sheriffs to maintain a tight perimeter around the boreal forest, or maybe build a wall? Sorry, that’s what happens when you accept a ludicrous premise at face value.
At the very least Smith must provide Albertans with free N95 masks and HEPA filters so we can continue to live and work in this hellish environment without killing ourselves.
Because the government can’t have it both ways. Either it addresses the root of the problem, climate change, or it pours billions of dollars into living with its consequences.
Setting up a boogeyman of politically motivated arsonists won’t cut it.
Susan on the Soapbox 