Dear Editor:
I have anxiety and grief about wildfires all through the spring and summer and into the fall if it continues to be hot and dry. This is not what we should be passing on to the generations of people following us.
This wildfire season is on track to be the second-worst in recorded Canadian history, and there will be more wildfire seasons like this to come if federal and provincial climate and energy policy continues fuelling what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls “fire weather.” And the longer governments fail to protect Canadians from it, the more likely we are to see vulnerable communities turn to the courts as a last resort.
Five months ago, when Mark Carney was on a mission to woo Canadians in his bid to lead both party and country, he wrote: “Young people deserve more from their government. They deserve to have optimism and confidence in their future. That’s the Canada I want to build.”
Yet 58 days after being elected and nearly ten years after his landmark “tragedy of the horizon” speech about acting with foresight to prevent climate harms, Carney's government rammed through Bill C-5 – legislation that gives cabinet sweeping powers to bypass environmental reviews and protections.
As the second-worst wildfire season in Canadian history forces evacuations from coast to coast to coast and leaders muse about taxpayer-funded fossil fuel expansion, I have to ask: Is this the “more” that young people deserve?
Or are we seeing the continued sidelining of young peoples’ rights to a climate-safe future, leaving them with no choice but to litigate? On International Youth Day, I celebrated the bravery of the seven young Ontarians in Mathur v. Ontario for taking their government to court over climate harms. For them, and for me, actions speak louder than words.
Mike Wilson
West Vancouver
