Rick Stewart’s interview seemed to me to reveal a forgetfulness of history and and a refusal to face the future. All of us, except the indigenous peoples whom our ancestors displaced and to whom we still owe reparations, are descended from immigrants or are ourselves immigrants. This is a multicultural country. Our population includes Ukrainians who fled persecution in the early 1900s, Europeans from many countries who looked for a better life after WW II, Ugandan Asians expelled by Idi Amin, Vietnamese boat people, Syrian and other refugees from recent conflicts and many, many others, often under the aegis of the United Nations. All these groups have made their contribution to Canada.
As to his attitude to the climate crisis and the inevitable changes it will bring to the fossil fuel industry, he seems to be clinging to the hope that things can stay the same, forgetting that spinners and weavers were displaced by machinery, carters and blacksmiths by the the combustion engine, assembly line workers by robots, just as Internet shopping is now displacing traditional retail and AI will likely take over many administrative jobs in the future. Fortunately for us, unlike the spinners and weavers, if every corporation and citizen pays its fair share of taxes, our society can support people during the transition from a fossil fuel-based economy and, in the process, provide thousands of new jobs, all the while providing ongoing education and healthcare. We are so fortunate to live in a rich, democratic country.
Our school children and their children will bear the brunt of the climate crisis unless we act immediately to reduce global warming and it seems to me that teaching them about it, thoughtfully, so as to empower them, is essential.
Coralie Kittle
Kimberley