In the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, I was making $1.30 per week delivering 85 newspapers, five days per week. From such suckers as me, strong economies are built. Apart from my employer, I was also resentful of my father for not building a bomb shelter in the backyard, ensuring the survival of his progeny — me. Had I been asked if I really, really wanted my father to build a bomb shelter, I would have said “absolutely… 100%.” If I had been asked to give up half of my $1.30 per week to get the bomb shelter, I would have balked. I really, really wanted the bomb shelter, but only if it was free to me.I was reminded of this when Calgary City Council bravely called an end to the climate emergency. Waiting for the emergency involved the same existential absurdity as “Waiting for Godot.” You see, were I asked if I am concerned about a climate emergency, I would say “Yes, of course I am.” It is like fearing “The Bomb” in 1962. However, if asked how much I am willing to pay to mitigate such a low probability/high concern event, my response is “Not much. Maybe about $1.30.”In reading about the good sense of ten of our councillors, I was informed of a group of elected city officials from across Canada called, in both official languages, “Elbows up for Climate.” I wonder if, in keeping with our federal leadership, they are considering a name change to “Elbows up for Climate to Make America Great Again.” This group, claiming to represent half of all Canadians, reports that “two-thirds of Canadians favour developing clean energy over fossil fuels, while 85% wish to maintain or increase federal climate action.” And there are indeed polls which mimic these results. Indeed, there are polls which show much lower support for climate action, so it is a bit hard to be dogmatic on what Canadians believe. .More significantly, none of the polls ask the necessary follow-up question: “Given that prior climate action has had no impact on global temperatures, how much more are you willing to pay for climate action?” Or put another way, “Are you willing to pay an additional seventeen cents per litre of gasoline to support a climate policy that has shown no signs of working?” Guess what the result of that question would be? We don’t know, but only 14% of Canadians list climate concerns in their top three things to obsess over. Climate issues rank eighth with the majority of Canadians.A group called Re.Climate has issued a report to explain the churlish behaviour of Canadians who don’t see climate as the existential threat that people who make money off climate concerns want us to believe it is. They have charted the drop in climate concern among Canadians since the halcyon days of COVID-19 and conclude that our views on climate are the fault of … Donald Trump! And why not? Elbows up and all that.Is there a climate emergency for those who don’t make their living from climate emergencies? No. Both Al Gore and Bill Gates have pulled the pin on that gasbag of scientism. Should we be concerned anyway, just in case? Sure, why not? Will we be willing to give up seventeen cents per litre to virtue signal that concern? I am guessing not, but I don’t know. It would be good if pollsters tested what people really think rather than leading them to conclusions which are not representative. Given the recent loss of a possible trade agreement with the United States, getting this right is becoming more existential than fears of atomic bombs or climate collapse.Which means, once again, hats off to the ten Calgary city councillors who pulled the rug out of this continuing scam. Pray for those Canadians whose city fathers have signed onto the “Elbows Up” doctrine. Wittingly or not, they will be making America, not Canada, great again.
