I'm very disappointed to see the UCP back in power, especially with Danielle Smith as our premier.
I am even more shocked at the statements and thinking of our premier in regards to the present wildfire situation in Alberta. I just read that the premier has downplayed the connection between wildfires and climate change, and is considering assigning arson investigators as to the cause of the fires in Alberta.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that fires in remote areas of northern British Columbia and Alberta and even into the territories are not caused by arson but by the extreme heat which we are all experiencing at this moment.
The good rural people who voted in the UCP thinking that they were the conservative party of their grandfather's day are sadly mistaken.
In their minds there seems seems to be a disconnect between what we're experiencing in terms of the extreme drought in Alberta at the moment and the use of fossil fuels particularly the oil and gas that Alberta is so in love with.
Climate scientists have been telling us for the last 30 years this is what we can expect. And yet when it is literally burning in our faces we refuse to act appropriately and ironically vote in a premier who will do nothing to alleviate the situation long-term.
I very much doubt that the UCP will begin to address the transitioning toward greener, cleaner energy sources to do our part, though perhaps fruitless, to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
For those people in Alberta who are suffering from drought conditions or other extreme weather phenomena that has been linked to climate change issues and who also voted for the UCP in this past election, I say you get what you deserve.
It's worth repeating the observation of a native American in the past “when the animals are all gone, when the forests are all gone, when the water is all gone only then will white man learn that money cannot be eaten.”
And the real crime is its going to be our children and grandchildren who suffer the devastating effects of our poor choices.
Alex Baradoy, Red Deer County
