Climate change has once again become a news topic in Canada, but not for a scientific discovery or jarring event. This time it is political. Elections Canada, our country’s federal agency for conducting elections, has deemed advertising for climate change as a potentially political act. Not stating scientific fact, but a partisan arguing point.

According to Elections Canada this is because Maxime Bernier, leader of the People’s Party of Canada, a fringe far-right wing populist party, is skeptical climate change is real.

It is not the first instance of Canadian scientist facing political challenges. Scientists working in Canada have had obstacles to their research dating back to the Harper government.

A few months ago, a report stated that Canadian science toward climate is being underfunded, and scientists are leaving Canada as a result.

These challenges toward the scientific community come at a critical point. A recent study pointed out that Canada is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world.

This spring, Ottawa had a flood that broke records it set all the way in…2017.

British Columbia experienced some of its worst forest fire seasons two years in a row, in 2017 and 2018.

In the Yukon, the town of Old Crow declared a climate state of emergency earlier this year.

But with the Elections Canada decision, the scientific community is speaking out this time. More than 350 scientists have signed an open letter to Elections Canada, voicing their concern over this ruling. Climate change is a fact, and the scientists signing this document want it to be treated as such.

By: David Lochead

After growing up in Ottawa and living in Halifax for my early-twenties I have come to back to Canada’s capital to take my Master of Journalism at Carleton University.

While writing is what I am experienced at, I have always enjoyed science. There are endless studies or articles based on it that make me go ‘whoa, that’s cool’.

But what drives me to be a part of SWCC is this subject’s importance. Whether it is getting a better understanding of climate change or the technology we adapt, science is involved.

Before taking my Master’s degree, I graduated from Dalhousie with Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Development. 

Outside of work, I love spending time outdoors, whether through sport or activity.