They Live On Another Planet

It's time, Geoff Stevens writes, for climate deniers to fold their tents:

It is time they stopped wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on court challenges to the federal government's carbon pricing regime — the 2018 Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, to give it its official name.

It is time they stopped misleading the public about Ottawa's anti-pollution strategy.

Any lingering doubt should have been swept aside by the Ontario Court of Appeal on Friday when it decisively rejected the Ontario Progressive Conservative government's challenge to the aforementioned GGPPA.

But Andrew Scheer and Doug Ford continue their assault on reality -- something Ontario Chief Justice George Strathy understands. His decision was unequivocal:

"The uncontested evidence before this court shows that climate change is causing or exacerbating: Increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events (including droughts, floods, wildfires, and heat waves); degradation of soil and water resources; thawing of permafrost; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; decreased agricultural productivity and famine; species loss and extinction; and expansion of the ranges of life-threatening vector-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus.

"Recent manifestations of the impacts of climate change in Canada include: Major wildfires in Alberta in 2016 and in British Columbia in 2017 and 2018; and major flood events in Ontario and Québec in 2017, and in British Columbia, Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick in 2018. The recent major flooding in Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick in 2019 was likely also fuelled by climate change."

 Scheer and Ford, however, live on another planet -- not the one the rest of us live on.

Image: DesignRope