2021 environmental report | A year marked by fire and water in British Columbia

(Montreal) Mother Nature once again testified in 2021 of her anger at the mistreatment inflicted on her by humans.

First swept away by a heat wave and devastated by hundreds of forest fires, British Columbia was then engulfed in unprecedented flooding.

Tornadoes, including at least one in Quebec, have wreaked havoc and death.

Meanwhile, those tasked with protecting the planet have often seemed to lack resolve. The COP26 climate conference in Scotland produced a final declaration that many considered weak and disappointing.

British Columbia

Climate scientist Dave Phillips of Environment Canada has been compiling a list of Canada’s 10 weather events of the year for 20 years. In 2021, he gives the first two places respectively to the heat dome that blanketed the west of the country at the end of June and the floods that hit British Columbia last month.

A ridge of high pressure of unprecedented intensity swept west in early summer, pushing the mercury to a record 49.6 degrees Celsius in the town of Lytton, British Columbia. The next day, June 30, the municipality was completely incinerated by a forest fire. The damage to Lytton is estimated at 78 million.

It is calculated that 1,610 forest fires destroyed 8,682 square kilometers between the 1^er April and September 30, especially in the south and southeast of the province. Around 300 fires were burning every day at the height of the crisis. In July, the heatwave and lightning caused 40 new claims to appear every day. The heat has killed nearly 600 people in the province.

As of July 10, forest fires were burning out of control across the country except in Nunavut and the Atlantic.

Five months later, the equivalent of a month of precipitation fell in a single November weekend in the Fraser River Valley. Farms have been flooded and highways washed away. Prime Minister John Horgan declared a state of emergency on November 17.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada calculates that the bill for insured property destroyed by the flooding will amount to at least $ 450 million, to which will be added uninsured property.

Canada was hit by at least four heatwaves during the summer. Montreal experienced its hottest August in 150 years. Mercury has often stayed above 20 degrees Celsius at night in several cities, including Toronto. At one point, 99% of the Prairies were in drought.

Tornadoes powerful enough to move homes and lift cars swept across Quebec and Ontario in June and July.

In Quebec, a 59-year-old man was killed when an F2 category tornado hit the town of Mascouche on June 21. The winds accompanying the meteorological phenomenon blew between 180 and 220 kilometers per hour. Two people were also injured.

Other weather events on Mr. Phillips’ record include polar weather that pushed the mercury to -55 degrees Celsius at night in parts of the Prairies; Hurricane Larry and its 180 km / hour winds that pummeled the island of Newfoundland; and winds of over 100 km / hour recorded in January at 76 sites on the Prairies, setting some 15 records.

COP26

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which took place in Glasgow, Scotland, during the first two weeks of November, was seen by many as the world’s last chance to avoid the worst consequences of a global warming that now seems inevitable.

Several countries, including island nations, were therefore extremely disappointed that the final declaration called for a reduction in the use of coal, rather than its elimination, a compromise which would have been accepted in particular to please India and China. .

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Canada has set an example for other major oil-producing countries who attended the conference, while warning that “we cannot win all battles. in our war on climate change ”.

Canada and about 20 other countries have pledged to end subsidies for fossil fuel projects abroad.

Keystone XL

Multinational TC Energy announced on June 9 that it was abandoning its Keystone XL pipeline expansion project, ending a decade-long struggle with environmentalists as it sought to export oil from the sands. Canadian bituminous.

Construction of the pipeline was suspended by President Joe Biden as soon as he took office on January 20.

The pipeline would have started from the town of Hardisty, Alta., To Steele City, Nebraska, and passed through Montana and South Dakota.

TC Energy announced on November 23 that it is seeking compensation of 15 billion in “economic damages” from the US government for the cancellation of the project.