STIRLING: Elbows down, fix potholes — why Canadian mayors must end their delusional climate crusade

In June of 2026, just before the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference in Edmonton, mayors and councillors gathered at an “Elbows Up for Climate” event. Some 300 of them signed a demand manifesto, sent to the federal government, that “We need nation building, not nation-burning policies,” claiming that new pipelines would lead to more wildfires, floods, and extreme weather events.The timing was perfect, as summer wildfire and tornado season blew up, more or less as expected, and climate activists everywhere proclaimed this as evidence of catastrophic climate change, despite the fact that not even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ascribes human industrial emissions or carbon dioxide concentration to wildfires. No increase in floods, either — they tend to be specific to city policies and storm sewer build-out. The IPCC also does not see any increasing trends. But that’s just boring evidence; wildfires and floods spark emotion!At the “Elbows Up…” event, the mayors heard a keynote from author John Vaillant, who wrote an award-winning book called “Fire Weather.” Vaillant was interviewed on CBC on July 15, wherein he reiterated the false claim that the oil and gas industry and related emissions drive wildfires. He also made a false equivalency that the outdoor sport industry in Canada constituted revenues of some $100 billion, while the oil and gas industry only $130 billion. He went on to say that “the petroleum industry and fossil fuel use worldwide is compromising Canadian summers, Canadian winters, and Canadians’ ability to enjoy the outdoors safely in the country or in the city, and also the ability for people to have profitable work for Canadians.”According to Destination Canada, the tourism industry in Canada is the second-largest service industry, with an annual economic footprint of some $263 billion, outranking mining and the auto sector in terms of economic contributions. Tourists travel by using refined oil products, including gasoline and jet fuel..Not surprisingly, most tourists come from the USA, disproportionately so. US visitors to Canada range from 15 to 20 million, depending on the year. The next closest is the UK with about 842,000, France with 649,000, India with 439,000, Mexico with 432,000, according to an AI summary of World Atlas and Statistics Canada.So, is it not odd indeed that the mayors of some of Canada’s biggest cities would participate in a campaign titled “Elbows Up…,” the aggressive, intentional, sneering meme the Carney Liberals used at election time to paint themselves as feisty fighters of President Donald Trump’s campaign of tariffs?Mayors and councillors are not in charge of international trade negotiations, but here they are doing their best to insult Canada’s top cohort of 15 to 20 million tourism customers!Maybe this is how the “Elbows Up…” mayors and councillors plan to reduce their emissions — by cratering the tourism industry! It is very curious that David Miller, former mayor of Toronto, and Valerie Plante, former mayor of Montreal, are co-chairs of the “Elbows Up for Climate” campaign..Ontario captures roughly 43% of international tourism visitor traffic, mostly centred around Toronto and Niagara Falls, while Montreal accounts for about 19% of tourist visits, generating over $16 billion annually and supporting more than 400,000 jobs.It is embarrassing to read in the “Elbows Up…” manifesto that the mayors are calling for job creation, when at the very same time they are acting like brats by even engaging in a campaign with the “Elbows Up…” epithet, which could be a trigger for insulted Americans to decide to stay home.The “Elbows Up…” mayors like to smear the oil and gas industry, but without fossil fuels, cities would have no pumped water, no public sanitation, no transportation, and limited power generation. And no tourists could get here — except by horse and buggy.Friends of Science Society (where I am the Communications Manager) issued a report debunking the “Elbows Up…” claims by the mayors of climate catastrophe and their unattainable plans, like high-speed rail across Canada.Former Toronto mayor David Miller wrote a book called Solved: How the World’s Greatest Cities are Fixing the Climate Crisis. Over the past year, it has become clear that with the official abandonment of the catastrophic climate scenario as “implausible,” the alleged climate crisis has solved itself. [The climate catastrophe scenario is known as RCP 8.5/SSP5-8.5]..This is good news for urban dwellers because now your mayors and councils can go back to dealing with things that really matter to you, like filling potholes, building out storm sewer systems, dealing with street crime, homelessness, and policing. Mayors should not be requesting the federal government to spend billions of dollars on a national wind and solar electricity grid and a national high-speed electric rail system.Cities would never have solved the climate crisis anyway. One astute citizen of Toronto calculated this and sent in a letter to city hall, commenting on the city’s climate plan. He writes:“The report implies that urgent local action can “avoid the worst impacts of climate change,” but omits essential scientific context from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2023 Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), Page 19.”“For every 1000 GtCO₂ emitted… global surface temperature rises by 0.45°C.”Toronto’s total annual emissions: 15.3 Mt (0.0153 Gt)Toronto’s impact on climate: 0.45°C x 0.0153Gt per year = 0.0069°C per year≈ 1°C every 145,000 years“This is not controversial. Toronto’s total emissions have a mathematically negligible effect on global temperature.”.So, if you work in tourism, or if you are a citizen who is tired of your mayor and council trying to be climate heroes, while you or your friends are at the food bank, just trying to get by, maybe have two or three words for them. “Elbows down.” Forget climate. Fix potholes. Maintain water mains. Fund police. Stop crime. Solve homelessness.Make our city safe and great again.

STIRLING: Elbows down, fix potholes — why Canadian mayors must end their delusional climate crusade

Related Stories

DANCING QUEEN?: Olivia Chow breaks down again at culture festival

WATCH: Canadian Reservists perform 'sloppy' Canada Day march

Bonnie Crombie considering Mississauga mayoral run

City of Toronto reselling FIFA World Cup tickets with markup to help fund hosting costs