It's like she took the words right out of my mouth.
'Of course' Fort McMurray fire linked to climate change, Elizabeth May says
The leader of Canada's Green Party said Wednesday climate change was partly to blame for the wildfire devastating Fort McMurray, Alta., touching off a debate about whether it was the right time to discuss the causes of the conflagration.
"Of course," Elizabeth May said Wednesday when asked if there was anything about the fire that is linked to global warming. "The temperature records were being smashed through last month for northern Alberta," she said, while noting that no single event is caused by climate change alone. "It's due to global emissions.
"Scientists will say we know with a destabilized climate, with a higher average global temperature, we will see more frequent, more extreme weather events ... due to an erratic climate, due to our addiction to fossil fuels."
Later, in a statement sent to reporters, May said she wasn't directly tying the Fort McMurray wildfire to climate change. "No credible climate scientist would make this claim, and neither do I make this claim," she said, while urging Canadians to take collective action to mitigate the impact of "extreme climate events."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to make a direct link between the fire — which has forced some 80,000 people out of their homes — and climate change, at least while the embers are still burning.
"It's well-known that one of the consequences of climate change will be a greater prevalence of extreme weather events around the planet, however any time we try to make a political argument out of one particular disaster I think there is a bit of a short cut that can sometimes not have the desired outcome.
"Pointing at any one incident and saying, 'Well this is because of that,' is neither helpful nor entirely accurate," he said. "What we are focussed on right now on is giving the people of Fort McMurray, and across Alberta, the kind of support that they need."
'Of course' Fort McMurray fire linked to climate change, Elizabeth May says - Politics - CBC News