I spent three days this past week as part of the media team covering the Climate Summit of the Americas, and the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Toronto. It was my first experience as an accredited reporter and a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists. Being a member of the press has its privileges and its responsibilities.

One of those privileges was the chance to spend three intense days with our Premier, Environment and Climate Change Minister, First Nations Grand Chiefs and Chiefs, Governors, Mayors, and former Presidents and Vice-Presidents, including every climate change denier’s nemesis, Al Gore.

But the majority of the delegates were business leaders, entrepreneurs, engineers, and community leaders. They were there to acknowledge that the tide had turned, that the change to a low-carbon economy and society was already underway, and that the era of fossil fuel energy was going the way of the dinosaurs.

One of the responsibilities of the press is to report honestly and accurately, without bias or exclusion, in a news report. An editorial commentary has free reign for opinion. This is an editorial.

While two cabinet ministers from “Our Government™”, Tony Clement and Lisa Raitt, attended the Economic Forum, no one from the federal government showed up at the Climate Summit, prompting Governor Jerry Brown of California to tell Stephen Harper to “Get with it!”

While Leona Aglukkaq frolicked in Nunavut, and Stephen Harper picknicked in Rouge Park with Earth Rangers attired children in the photo op, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Inuk defender and a member of the Order of Canada spoke to the Climate Summit delegates from her heart and soul. She stated: “What is needed is a debate on human rights – it is a moral and ethical imperative.”

This is much more than an issue of climate science and economic opportunity. In the Arctic this is a critical issue of social justice and the failure to address it is criminal.

When the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Environment fail to show up for the debate, it sends a very clear signal to Canadians. It says, “We really just don’t care.” The road to to Paris, like the road to Hell,  is paved with election photo-ops. So while Harper posed for the press with his new children’s crusade, and Aglukkaq fiddled in the far north while the Arctic melted, the Province of Ontario stood up, was counted, and took action.

On Thursday, July 9, 2015, Ontario and 21 other states, provinces and regions signed the first-ever Pan American Climate Action Statement. Felipe Calderon, former President of Mexico, best summed up the significance of this event: “We now have clear evidence of states, provinces, cities, and businesses leading the way on climate action and achieving strong economic growth at the same time. This Summit has been an incredible demonstration of this bottom-up momentum and should inspire more ambition by all on the road to Paris.”

Our current federal government is missing in action. Sending Stephen Harper or one of his minions to Paris, would be as embarrassing for Canada on the world stage as if Rob Ford had still been in office to open Toronto’s Pan-Am and Para-Pan-Am Games. In October we will have the opportunity to pick a different team to represent Canada at the Climate Summit in Paris. Let’s hope that we pick a team that understands the science and cares about the human condition.

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

Laudato Si’, the Encyclical released on June 18^th by Pope Francis, has brought the issue of accelerating climate change back to the front burner of religious, business, and political discussion. And he made it quite clear he doesn’t want bitumen fueling the burner.

Naturally, the encyclical was immediately praised by environmental groups, alternative energy entrepreneurs, and green politicians. And as equally predictable, it was denied by Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Business, Conservatives and Republicans. Jeb Bush, U.S. presidential candidate and a Catholic, quipped about Francis’s encyclical, “I don’t get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinals or my pope.” No, Jeb, but I have a good idea from where you do get your economic policies. And it’s a lot warmer than Florida.

The entire encyclical is available online. To read it is almost like having a conversation with the Pope. And it is a direct and honest conversation. He wastes no time acknowledging humanity’s fingerprints on the acceleration of climate change and the desecration of Our Common Home, the Earth. His main focus is on the ecological crisis, but he spends equal time on social justice issues, recognizing that the poor in both developed and developing countries will pay the greatest price for our consumptive sins.

Most notably, he makes it absolutely clear that the biblical line giving humans dominion over Earth, does not mean we can greedily consume it into extinction. It means we have to live wisely and well for the common good of all creatures, and for the well being of generations to come.

He also holds to account all government leaders who have talked big on the global stage and have done little of significance in policy and practice. He bravely exposed the myth that trading carbon credits, or carbon cap-and-trade deals are solutions to reducing our dependence on fossil fuel extraction and use. All the Canadian political leaders might want to re-examine their policies on that one.

For me, the key point of the encyclical was to make clear that our current Conservative Reform Alliance Party government, and the Canadians who voted for them, could be going straight to Hell if we don’t immediately get back to science-based decision making and come up with some actual policies to deal with and mitigate the impacts of accelerating climate change.

Laudato Si’, Francis!

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon