Common Sense Will Not Be Allowed In This Discussion

Nor the evidence of arson:

Activists engaged in systemic exaggeration and the deliberate avoidance of conflicting evidence undercut our ability to understand the issues and thereby prevent informed, responsible action.

Fires occur naturally from lightning and heat. Add inconsistent forest management practices and you end up with a giant tinderbox.

What is missing is a balanced and fair assessment of an obvious truth: a sizable number of forest fires are not related to climate change but, instead, are a result of human activity, such as campfires and ATVs, questionable forest management practices and even arson.

Eco-activists and environmental NGOs want us to believe that there is a climate crisis and that fossil fuels are the cause of virtually all of these fires. Yet recent news stories about the causes of various forest fires suggests that attributing them all to climate change is misleading to say the least.

The activists hope to produce radical and dramatic environmental action, like accelerated carbon taxes — a policy that simply doesn’t fulfill its purpose, especially in a large, northern country like Canada where cold weather and long distances will ensure we continue to be a heavy consumer of energy.

Climate change is happening, although less dramatically than the extreme eco-activists repeatedly say. The assertion, made so blithely and repeatedly, that every forest fire is directly attributable to climate change and that this summer’s fires are a sign of impending doom are simply irresponsible.

As shown in California and Australia, both of which have suffered from intense forest fires in recent years, issues of forest management, over-development of ecologically vulnerable areas and expanded human activity in forested areas play significant roles in the proliferation of fires.

We need to move towards a clear, honest dialogue in our discussion of the recent fires. As a starting point, we need a public conversation about the manipulation of public opinion by interested environmental organizations.

Forest fires are bad enough. Misinformation, deception, exaggeration and wilful ignorance make things much worse, heightens anxiety, prompts inappropriate policy responses and forces the country toward costly and aggressive climate change policies that have a detrimental effect on the economy.

I abhor the false and misleading information that the public has been force-fed. Government officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, have repeatedly used forest fires to justify increased carbon taxes and aggressive climate change interventions.