Technology—not taxes—is the right approach to climate change

A lot has been raised about the possible connection between climate change and wildfires in Canada. It certainly has been a dry year over much of North America—and indeed the world—with wildfires ranging in many countries. Of course the “usual suspects” immediately ascribe these intense fires to climate change similar to their other declarations that almost all weather is due to climate change. Much rain: climate change! Lots of snow: climate change! Too little snow: climate change! Flooding: climate change! Droughts: climate change! And so on. Many prognosticators predicted warmer winters across Canada with little snow. But last year the Prairies experienced one of the coldest winters ever with March temperatures rarely rising above -20C. One should be humble before nature and realize that not only does she throw curves, but bats last. And to continue with a baseball analogy, we should all heed Yogi Berra’s famous admonition; “Predictions are hard; especially about the future.” It is getting tiresome when no matter what happens weather-wise, the climatistas always yell: “climate change; caused by humans.” But there are a myriad of natural factors that also influence climate; they always have and always will. A recent report on the weather by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific notes: “A new update from the World Meteorological Organization has declared the onset of El Niño, the first declaration of this kind in seven years. There is a 90 per cent probability of a transition from ENSO-neutral to El Niño during the second half of 2023. El Niño is a natural weather phenomenon that fuels above-average global heat, but results in more intense natural hazards in parts of the world. It will likely have strong economic repercussions and threatens to slow the global economy by as much as US$3-trillion." One needs only to live and farm on the Prairies to experience this extreme weather variability. I remember 1980, 1984, and 1988 as very dry years, the 1990s were mostly wet with lots of flooding, such as the great flood of 1997. And from 2000 to the present there have been both drought and flood years; sometimes one year apart. Going back further, we had the great Winnipeg flood of 1950, and history records that the flood of 1826 was the largest flood in Manitoba history. Was climate change responsible for a colossal Manitoba flood almost 200 years ago? It was probably a La Nina year. This brings us to the politicization of the current wildfires as certain commentators (the usual suspects) urge Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to “get with the program” on climate change. In a June 2023 CTV article, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said he’d have better luck fighting climate change, and by extension forest fires, if he didn’t have to fight with Conservative politicians. The minister is basically saying that only if Conservatives agreed to a greater carbon tax and a faster phasing out of fossils fuels that we could significantly reduce wildfires. Columnists Max Fawcett and Andrew Coyne in recent columns have both intimated the same thing: Conservatives need to support a carbon tax, and then wildfires will miraculously disappear. Really? At 1.8 per cent of global emissions, I defy anyone to prove mathematically that anything Canada does to reduce CO2 emissions could have any effect on our weather or wildfires. Actually, Poilievre’s policy of “technology not taxes” is spot on when it comes to dealing with Canada’s climate change and weather-related challenges. We need to harden our infrastructure, conserve and protect nature while sensitively harvesting natural resources, and apply modern technology to solve any environmental issues that we have. Keep in mind that most—if not all—of Canada’s environmental indicators have improved dramatically over the last few decades. This improvement is due to the application of rigorous environmental standards for industrial projects and using technology—such as modern wastewater—to deal with point-source pollution among others. The greatest example of “infrastructure hardening” was Manitoba premier Duff Roblin’s (1958-1967) building of the Winnipeg Floodway and other water control projects to protect Winnipeg from catastrophic flooding. These projects, for which Roblin was endlessly ridiculed, have often saved Winnipeg and have paid for themselves hundreds of times over. Would God Calgary had the same infrastructure during their major flood. In addition to technology, Canada’s adaptation to climate change and extreme weather should include a commitment to conserve, protect, and create “natural infrastructure” such as small-water control structures, constructed wetlands and wetland conservation, and the retention of forest cover in our settled regions. And of course a commitment to better forest management to buffer the ferocity of those inevitable forest fires. Technology not taxes: exactly the right approach. Robert Sopuck was the Conservative Member of Parliament for the Manitoba constituency of Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa from 2010-2019. The Hill Times

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Technology—not taxes—is the right approach to climate change

We need to harden our infrastructure, conserve and protect nature while sensitively harvesting natural resources, and apply modern technology to solve our environmental issues.

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