Dear Editor,
Regarding Mr. Hartlen’s response (July 7), to Mr. Robertson’s very thoughtful and factual letter (June 30), two things immediately came to my mind. I had already seen the Abacus Data poll. I thought about writing to you about it, procrastinated shamelessly, and wish to thank Mr. Robertson for bringing it to your readers’ attention – better than I would have done. Polarization is a real and growing threat in Canada.
First, I wondered. If Mr. Hartlen was to drive his car or truck from Clarksburg to Thornbury, would that prove to him that vehicle travel is possible? Or would he remain suspicious, undecided, and unconvinced, until he drove back to Clarksburg from Thornbury? At what point would he agree that people can travel using vehicles?
The reason I wondered? He seems bound and determined to convince us that it is an “arrogant unscientific belief that we can control Earth’s climate.” But we’ve already driven atmospheric CO2 levels to 420 Parts Per Million, or PPM (from less than 320 PPM in just 1960). We know it was us that did it. Neither fact is in dispute. One is simply measured each day by a meter on a stick on top of a mountain in Hawaii. The other was a relatively simple calculation to eliminate the effects of all the natural causes that took place. What was left? Us. Unless about 1,000 volcanoes erupted and we somehow missed it. And we have people watching them all the time too. Wasn’t volcanoes. It was us.
The rest of us only want to drive atmospheric CO2 levels back under 350 PPM. Urgently. Back. To slow, stop, or reverse the deadly effects of global Climate Change.
Shouldn’t the fact that we want to change it BACK prove to Mr. Hartlen’s (and anyone who may share his views) satisfaction that it isn’t arrogant or unscientific to assume we can change the climate? After all, we already did. We changed the Climate. It was a very bad idea. I’m thinking, we already drove the climate to Thornbury. We already proved it was possible to change the climate. And it is really well past time we drove it back to Clarksburg. Figuratively speaking.
And secondly, I have never seen PM Trudeau leading or supporting an insurrection seeking to jail himself and replace our Government with some trucker louts, the Governor General, and the Senate. Not once. I’ve seen him win three fair and free elections. Which meets no definition of dictator known to anyone anywhere in the world. I’ve not seen him promoting idiotic anti-vaccine protests – even once. The closest I’ve seen Mr. Trudeau come to “pouring divisive gasoline on the fire” was when he said, “Hey Gang? How about we kill LESS Canadians by wearing masks responsibly and getting a safe proven vaccine? ALL of us, OK? Oh. And get your trucks off my lawn.”
It all made me recall an article I saw that looked at the causes of our current airport chaos. The author opened with, “To hear it from some people, this is all Justin Trudeau’s fault.” No doubt a popular view in some quarters. But the author went on to explain that as of last September there were 2,300,000 less people working worldwide in the aviation industry – as a direct result of the Pandemic killing demand for air travel. Pilots. Flight Attendants, Check in Crew, Ground Crew, Baggage Handlers, Security Workers. Every conceivable role. 2.3 million people previously dedicated to moving people – gone. Justin Trudeau didn’t fire those people. The author also went on to say that it was naïve to believe the premature lifting of mask mandates worldwide (in our case a bad Provincial decision) wasn’t causing staffing shortages among the remaining aviation employees who were still employed. Also quite easy to understand. We show up – infected – to the airport. Wait in line. Wait in line again. Wait in line again. Get in a closed space for 5 or 10 hours. Boom! More aviation industry employees get infected. More employees sitting at home. Not working. Not moving people. We have friends that took over 24 hours to travel from Kelowna to St. John’s. WestJet couldn’t staff their original flights so they were all cancelled. Justin Trudeau wasn’t blocking the door to the airport (all of them) demanding a one-hour wait between travelling parties trying to get in. There was no one to fly the airplanes. The article’s author closed by saying, “While it’s tempting for some to believe that governments are the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s recent problems, the truth is more complicated than that.”
And yet, I have no doubt at all that any people relying on fringe on-line media to supply their carefully screened and desired “facts” will be telling each other “It’s ALL that damn Trudeau’s fault!”
Let’s save the Planet. Change the Climate. BACK the way it was before we CHANGED it the FIRST time!
Bruce Mason, Meaford
