“Sockeye salmon in the Fraser River are dying from exhaustion and…cardiac collapse as they struggle to deal with water temperatures that are steadily rising because of climate change.” (Death on the Frazer)

By Ray Rivers

August 9th, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

We first learned of global warming back when we believed it could still be mostly avoided, well over a quarter century ago. Today the emerging consensus is that we waited too long. It is too late to stop global climate change and the best we can do is try to slow it down, even as global emissions continue their upwards spiral.

Canada is a relatively small contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the big scheme of things given our relatively small population, though we are one of the greatest contributors on a per capita basis. The truth is that even if we stopped driving our pickup trucks and SUVs and phased out all fossil fuel energy production, the effect would be almost inconsequential.

It was a great idea – but not very many country’s signed on.

But we share this planet with the big league polluters like China and the USA. So Canadians also share responsibility for its stewardship even if we tend to lead more by words than action. For example, we were one of the early subscribers to the failed Kyoto protocol, the first global initiative bent on curbing rising emissions. But when it appeared that we couldn’t meet our Kyoto targets and simultaneously continue with oil sands development, Mr. Harper took us out.

Stop the tax – what do you replace it with?

And it probably wouldn’t have mattered much anyway as far as Kyoto went. GW Bush took the largest greenhouse gas emitter at the time out of Kyoto right at the starting gate. And now, as if in a deja vu moment, Trump has ended US involvement in Kyoto’s successor, the Paris climate agreement. That gives the US the distinct honour of being the only nation of any size not in the agreement.

And Paris, with the goal of holding the earth’s thermometer at 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels is also destined to fail. It is estimated that this 1.5 degrees will be history before Trump finishes his term in office in 2020. And the next challenge is avoiding two degrees, the so-called tipping point.

The emerging consensus, however, among climate scientists is that we’re heading for three or even four degrees, which will result in a so-called hothouse state. And that means that, short of a nuclear winter or the sun running out of its own energy, nothing we do will get us back to anything even closely resembling today’s climate.

Polar ice caps will be history as will the cooling ocean currents that moderate the planet. Floods and forest fires will be never ending and we’ll finally get real population control, through higher mortality rates.

So is that the scenario which Ontario voters were seeking when they elected Doug Ford? Ford has cancelled virtually every single initiative the Liberals had initiated to help mitigate Ontario’s contribution to global warming.

Ford claims, in his own defence, that he is not a climate denier and is coming up with his own climate change plan. Seriously? What could a Ford plan possibly look like anyway? Having rejected market tools – pricing, subsidies and taxes, that just leaves regulations. Is he planning to restrict our use of automobiles, home heating/cooling or industrial activity?

Mr. Ford is cancelling over seven hundred renewable energy contracts, making Ontario dependent on purchased power from the US or more fossil fuel burning just to avoid the inevitable brown-outs, especially when one of the nukes shut down – which they will. That will give us a stark reminder of how well the Tories mis-managed the electricity file under Harris and Eves.

Doug Ford made Caroline Mulroney his Attorney General. Now the daughter of a Prime Minister who was a strong environmentalist is suing the federal government to kill a tax that was designed to help fund environmental solutions.

Ford’s attorney general is taking the federal government to court over the carbon taxes we’ll be getting after Ford cancelled the carbon cap and trade system. If Ms. Mulroney wins that might limit, or could even end the federal government’s historical role in pan-national environmental regulation. Given that Brian Mulroney is generally considered one of Canada’s most environmental PMs, what would that make his daughter?

In last June’s election Ford was unequivocal about his intent to reverse everything the Liberals did on climate change. And over 40% of voters supposed Mr. Ford. So does that mean they all support what he is doing on this file? Do they look at the environment, climate change, as just another partisan issue? If the liberals did it – it had to be so bad that it required white-out – erasing.

What could be more conservative than conserving the life support systems on this planet? And what is the climate but perhaps the most critical of those? And what about that perennial core Tory support group, the religious right – the near puritanical movement which likes to parade as God’s army? Didn’t the bible say something about stewardship?

Rising water temperatures in the Fraser River are killing the salmon.

Those Frazer salmon are dying because somebody has turned up the temperature on the river where they have spawned ever since creation? And if they don’t spawn, what happens to the species?

We may not be the only ones controlling the global thermometer, but if we’re not part of the solution we own the problem. We should understand that, and that once the fishes are gone the loaves will not be far behind.

Ray Rivers writes regularly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking.  Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington.  He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject.     Tweet @rayzrivers

Background links:

Dying Fish –    More Salmon Stories –    Two Degrees –

Emissions Data –    Hothouse State –    Ford Cancels Renewable Contracts –

By Staff

August 8th, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

He did say he would do it.

And he has done it.

Unfortunately he did it at a craft brewery in Picton.

Premier celebrates an announcement that didn’t go over all that well. Said he was keeping a promise.

Craft beer brewers aim for distinct taste and quality as they develop their niche markets.
In its heyday farmers in Prince Edward County shipped thousands of tonnes of barley across Lake Ontario to beer makers in upstate New York. Those barley shipments created several fortunes in Picton.

The county’s economic boom started in the 1800s, when local barley was shipped across to the eastern U.S. to supply breweries. The barley days came to an end in 1890, when the McKinley Tariff was introduced to the U.S.A.

It was proposed by Congressman (future president) William McKinley in order to protect American industry from the competition of foreign imports. New York breweries could not afford to pay the 48.4% tax on Prince Edward County grain entering the U.S. and many were forced to close down.

The closure of a number of New York breweries and relocation of others to the American Midwest lessened the demand for Prince Edward County grains, eventually ending Barley Days prosperity.

The Premier chose to make his announcement at a craft brewery in Picton, Prince Edward County. It was the start of a countdown to the return of ‘Buck-a-Beer’, the popular $1-per-beer price floor that delighted people across Ontario until it was cancelled when the previous government abruptly introduced new beer price regulations.

“We were elected on a promise to reduce red tape and put the people first,” said Premier Doug Ford, who made the announcement while visiting the Barley Days Brewery. “This included a promise to bring ‘Buck-a-Beer’ back to Ontario. Today I am proud to say: Promise made, promise kept.”

Ontario has a craft beer industry that is doing rather well. It has taken those brewers years to get to the point where they have a premium product that they sell at a Premium price and it is sold in LCBO outlets.

Protesters block Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s car after the buck-a-beer plan announcement at Barley Days brewery in Picton, Ont.

The Premier has confused low priced beer with little in the way of flavour with premium beers. He embarrasses the quality beer makers with his political promise to let people get low quality beer that is cheap and can be purchased in volume. Those volume purchases are what result in excess drinking – the Yahoos just might feel that the “buck a beer” is a license to let loose.

There is that line from the French Revolution that went – Let them eat cake. You know where that got them.

The buck a beer promotion is pandering to a segment of Ford’s core vote which is fine. Just don’t do it on the backs of a market the province has every reason to be proud of.

Ford, who was joined by Minister of Finance, Vic Fedeli, and Minister of Government and Consumer Services, Todd Smith, announced that, effective August 27, Ontario’s Government for the People will lower the minimum price floor to $1.00 for any beer with an alcohol volume below 5.6 per cent.

“We’re going to do this smartly and responsibly,” said Ford. “We trust Ontario beer drinkers and other consumers to make their own smart, mature and responsible choices.”

It wasn’t the reception the Premier thought he was going to get for delivering on one of his promises.

To encourage brewers to lower their prices, the Premier formally launched the ‘Buck-a-Beer Challenge.’ Any brewer who agrees to lower their prices on or after August 27 will, for a limited time throughout the year, receive LCBO promotional considerations such as limited-time discounts, in-store displays on end aisles and shelf extenders, or advertising in LCBO flyers and newspaper inserts.

“The days of the government putting its hand in your pocket each time you buy a two-four or six-pack is over,” said Ford. “Instead we’re going to do what we said we would do and put Ontario consumers first.”

QUICK FACTS
• The minimum retail price for beer was $1.00 in Ontario from 2005 to 2008.
• In 2008 the previous government decided to ban Buck-a-Beer by setting a higher minimum price and today the retail price floor sits at $1.25.
• Annual indexing for all packaged beer will be suspended to maintain the $1.00 minimum floor price over time.
• ‘Buck-a-Beer’ will not apply to draft beer sold in restaurants and bars or ciders, spirits and wine.