(Whitecourt) The burned houses, the sky covered with a thick cloud of smoke and the million hectares of forest consumed did not move the priorities of Albertans in the middle of the election campaign. Global warming remains far down the list of their concerns.
What there is to know
- Albertans will go to the polls on Monday to choose whether Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party or Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party will form the next government.
- The electoral campaign was disrupted by major forest fires which led to the evacuation of 30,000 people.
- Of the 50 fires still raging on Friday, 14 were still considered out of control.
“It’s so shocking to me,” laments Stefan Kienzle, a professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Lethbridge. “Climate change is not part of the discussions. They are ignored, ”adds the man who has been trying for 20 years to raise awareness in this oil-producing province of the effects of global warming.
The cost of living (60%) and health (49%) are the two main priorities of voters who must go to the polls on Monday, according to a poll carried out by the firm Angus Reid * while numerous forest fires were raging in Alberta. They are followed by public safety (26%), the economy (25%) and the province’s energy policy (18%).
“Forest fires are nothing new. They have been around for centuries,” replied Steve Harder, a voter met in the small town of Whitecourt when he left the advance polling station.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Burned forest in Fox Creek, Alberta
Nathan Schultz, who builds roads for the oil industry and the forestry industry, is mainly worried about the impact of these fires on his job, but not about climate change. “I didn’t have a job for three weeks because of these fires,” he explains.
“The planet works in cycles,” says Fern Mattey, a welding inspector whose job is related to the oil industry. ” I am very redneck laughs the one who supported the “freedom convoy” and who voted for Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party. “The media only want to scare us,” she concludes.
There is a disconnect. It is difficult to make people understand because we cannot say that forest fires are the consequence of climate change; but what we do know is that the conditions conducive to it are more frequent and have more magnitude.
Stefan Kienzle, Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Lethbridge
Like the abnormally hot and dry weather that allowed the fires to spread rapidly in the north of the province from the beginning of May. A campfire ember or the simple heat of a four-wheeler motor driving over dry grass can set them off in such conditions.
“The only way out is through educating the public to understand that these extreme events are obviously linked to carbon dioxide and methane emissions,” he adds.
A lucrative industry
It’s a tough job in a province that derives significant revenue from the fossil fuel industry. The Alberta government’s latest budget predicted a $2.4 billion surplus thanks to the high price of a barrel of oil.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Refinery in Edmonton, Alberta
However, the oil and gas industry is the one that emits the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in the country. In 2021, it was responsible for 28% of total Canadian emissions, according to the most recent report from the federal Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Whitecourt Mayor Tom Pickard
Everyone understands that fossil fuels contribute to global warming. We don’t deny it, but we know that we are also part of the solution.
Tom Pickard, Mayor of Whitecourt
The oil and gas industry is one of the economic lungs of this small town of just under 10,000 inhabitants, which also lives from the forestry industry. Some 3,000 evacuees took refuge there when wildfires broke out in the area on May 5.
“The only way to fund carbon capture research is to have money,” he continues. And the industry is very much aware that carbon capture is becoming a reality. »
Whitecourt and seven other towns in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario submitted a resolution to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which passed in September, demanding an end to double standards. They demand that the federal government apply the same environmental requirements for oil imported from abroad as for that which is produced in Alberta, while maintaining the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The Suncor Refinery, on Refinery Row in Edmonton, Alberta
“Environmental requirements in Canada are costing our oil producers money, yet we continue to buy them from other countries with dictatorships, such as Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, which have no these requirements,” says Pickard.
“Their profits go to dictatorships, while the profits from our industry improve social programs, roads and our health care system across the country. »
Professor Stefan Kienzle, who calls himself pragmatic, recognizes that the energy transition will be expensive and that compromises will have to be made. So you might as well use the bituminous sands whose exploitation is already underway while avoiding taking advantage of new deposits. “The damage is already done,” he concludes.
*Angus Reid surveyed 1,374 Albertans May 12-16. A probability sample would have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.