Federal Environment Minister David Anderson visited U of T last Thursday, delivering a message from Paul Martin’s new Liberal government concerning climate change.
Brought to campus by the Students Administrative Council (SAC) as a part of their annual environment week, Anderson delivered this year’s keynote address entitled “The Politics of the Environment.” Past SAC environment week keynote speakers have included Ralph Nader and David Suzuki, and a strong showing of students and community members at the OISE auditorium underlined the importance of the politician’s visit.
Anderson outlined several worst case scenarios if current scientific beliefs weren’t taken into consideration when creating policy at the federal level. Pointing out climatic trends within Canada itself, from prairie droughts in Saskatchewan to costal erosion in Nova Scotia and British Colombia, Anderson stressed the gravity of the Canadian environmental situation, specifically, “Hurricane Gabriel’s effect on St. John’s in 2001. Hurricane Juan and then ‘White Juan’ in the Maritimes. The Mountain Pine beetle and fires in British Columbia’s forests. Ongoing drought in the Prairies. Diminishing Sea ice and buildings sinking into the permafrost in the north.”
Anderson also outlined the economics of climate change, looking at insurance companies and the hard times that they have fallen on at the hands of natural occurrences. Anderson pointed out that Swiss RE, the world’s second largest insurer, recently issued a report claiming that “the costs of natural disasters, aggravated by climate change, threatened to spiral out of control, forcing the human race into a catastrophe of its own making”. The report also claimed that if current trends continue, within ten years the insurance industry could face the financial equivalent of one World Trade Centre disaster annually at the hands of natural disasters. If the Thames river were to flood the London downtown, as Anderson claimed is a distinct possibility, $30 billion pounds or $70 billion Canadian dollars of damage would be inflicted.
Anderson levied an attack on the Bush administration’s lack of respect for scientific evidence in their policy decisions concerning the environment. He tempered this by pointing out that at the state level, action is being taken, noting “California, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, New York and the New England States want to move aggressively in cleaning the air and being more environment friendly.”
The minister also pointed to how cleaner industry doesn’t necessarily mean higher production costs, as is commonly argued. He pointed out success stories from corporations such as Alcan, Chemical Lime Company and Interface in Canada, and British Petroleum and Dupont overseas.
During question period, Anderson skillfully masked his annoyance at one man, sporting knee-high rain boots, whose questions on the subject of the Oak Ridges Moraine kept the discussion focused within a jurisdiction presided over by the Provincial government for a lengthy span.
Looking closely at technological advancement as the main solution to environmental woes, Anderson stressed the future of Canadian involvement in such areas, “Our government is determined to put Canada in the front rank of countries that are innovators, ready to expand and feed the growing markets for environmental solutions.”
Anderson was careful to point out Trinity-Spadina MP Tony Ianno’s attendance, and thanked him for his support in environmental activities in the riding within which U of T sits.
