Misplaced hate

Vincent J. Curtis

30 July 24

RE: Jasper fire is just the beginning. Letter by Wayne Poole. The Hamilton Spectator 30 July 24

I’ve been the victim of hate-mongering by Wayne Poole; this time he misdirects his hate-mongering towards Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party of Alberta.  The town of Jasper lies entirely within Jasper National Park, which is subject to the jurisdiction of Parks Canada, a Federal agency. Nevertheless, Poole accuses Smith and the Conservative Party of being responsible for the disastrous wild fire that consumed a third of the town.

“Were [Smith’s] tears of regret, of contrition?” he asks. Apparently, Premier Smith is not allowed normal human emotion.

Poole goes on, blaming carbon dioxide for the disastrous fire! “It’s time for the irresponsible Smith and the UCP to stop playing politics and get real, for Alberta’s fossil fuel industry to wake up to the reality of climate change…Jasper is just the beginning.”

Climate change causes another climate to come into existence from a previous one; and neither climate nor its change causes forest fires.  Nor does carbon dioxide, one of the products of the combustion of fossil fuel, cause natural disasters.

Mr. Poole may sincerely believe the arrant nonsense spelled out above, but that gives him no right to propose that Premier Smith was not sincerely moved by the tragedy, or to ignore the fact that a Federal agency, not the province of Alberta, was responsible for fire fighting in Jasper.

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