DECEMBER 6TH, 2010

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Last night, I watched the television news and I saw President Santos of Colombia talking about the unprecedented national disaster that his country is facing. I saw clips of people digging frantically in the mud to try and rescue those who have been buried in mudslides.

A few days ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel spoke about what he called the unprecedented forest fires in Israel. If you saw the clips, you saw the burnt-out hulk of the bus where dozens of Israeli prison guards were killed in that fire.

A few months ago, President Gilani of Pakistan talked about the unprecedented flooding and rain that left 20 million people homeless—all unprecedented, but none unpredicted.

Even 10 years ago, Israel was told about the potential for huge forest fires. A year ago, Colombia was told by the United Nantions about the potential for devastating flooding. The potential for flooding in Pakistan has been known for a long time.

Climate change is at the centre of all of those incidents. The countries and jurisdictions that have not acted to take it on—and Ontario’s Liberal government is one of them—have failed ethically and have failed morally, and that inaction has to come to an end.