Friday, August 09, 2019

Climate Change and the Election Campaign



When you're out sailing on one of the Great Lakes as I have been doing recently, it's hard to imagine that the world is running out of water.

But that is the case for one quarter of humanity.

And this is equally ominous.



Climate change is also threatening the world's food supply. 

The world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates,” a new United Nations report warns, which combined with climate change is putting dire pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself. 

The report, prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and released in summary form in Geneva on Thursday, found that the window to address the threat is closing rapidly. A half-billion people already live in places turning into desert, and soil is being lost between 10 and 100 times faster than it is forming, according to the report.

It's a grim report, the numbers seem so overwhelming, it's hard to know where to begin.

Or hard to relate to in a place like Canada where in our short summer we worship the sun.



But since we can only fight climate change in this country, for me at least, these are the only numbers that count. 

The Liberals and Conservatives are in a dead heat just two and a half months out from election day, a new Mainstreet Research poll for iPolitics suggests.

In the firm’s latest phone survey, 34.5 per cent of leaning and decided respondents said they’d vote for the Liberals if the election were today, compared to 34.1 per cent who opted for the Conservatives. The Greens and NDP were tied at 11.1 per cent apiece, while the Bloc Québécois, which only runs candidates in Quebec, had 4.4 per cent nationally. The People’s Party of Canada (PPC) drew 3.3 per cent of support.

For unless we can stop Andrew Scheer and his climate change denying Cons from winning the next election we won't be doing ANYTHING to fight climate change.



For as we all know he has no serious plan to fight climate, and is for that reason alone unfit to govern this country.

And I must say in that regard that Mainstreet poll is quite encouraging.



The Liberals and the Cons may be tied, but the Liberals have more room to grow.  There's nothing like a close race to get progressives out to vote. 

With the NDP and the Kinsella Green Party going nowhere, I would expect Liberal Party support to increase as we get closer to the election.

And in British Columbia, we have a great warning about what happens when the Green Party splits the vote. 



And the Cons are able to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.

So let's not do that if we can possibly help it.

The Liberals could do better, but this country is heading in the right direction.



And four years of Scheer fascism, would be the death of Canada.

So let's get serious and do what we must...



Let's first save our country.

And then help save the world....

4 comments:

Jackie Blue said...

Dunno if you follow the 338 Canada aggregator, but P.J. Fournier says Nanos' numbers are similar to Mainstreet's. He also gave an interview with a blog from the McGill U. poli-sci department (his alma mater, like Justin's) indicating that summer polling for the third parties isn't likely to reflect the E-Day results, because the Greens and NDP don't have the resources for a sufficient ground game (and neither does Max, LOL). A third poll from Innovative Research and a partial release from Frank Graves at EKOS (which probably won't be entered into 338 because it's not an official one, just a Twitter post) show similar results to Nanos and Mainstreet. Abacus is out tomorrow, and Bruce Anderson hinted that Ford is having impact in Ontario. Darrell Bricker even admitted a few days ago that the topline numbers are inconsistent because they're obscuring the efficiency of the vote: the Cons have massive leads in flyover country while the Liberals are strengthening or ahead in the East. B.C. remains a wild card for now, but with any luck, losses out there can be compensated for in ON/QC/ATL. So far it's looking like a Canadian version of Trump/Hillary in 2016 except in reverse. Hopefully that means things are turning around for the TruGrits, "Justin Time."

Simon said...

Hi Jackie....Yes, the polls are suggesting a tight race, but there are still a lot of undecided voters. And with the trend favouring the Liberals, and with no fake scandals to cloud the picture, I think we can all relax a bit, as you can see I have been doing....🚣

Jackie Blue said...

Voter turnout #s will be most important. Polls aren't ballots. Best of luck getting everyone you know to actually be there on 10/21.

Steve said...

these polls are nothing but con manipulation