Over the weekend, our 2019 secondary school graduates entered a new chapter of their lives. One page in that chapter includes living with the results of whatever the current batch of political decision makers decide to do economy versus environment.
Will it be business as usual, as many believe? Or will the dire predictions on the climate/political scenes change everything as we know it now?
The current scenarios range from everything is okay to predictions that society as we know it will be gone by 2050, with many variations in between. According to new scientific reports, Canada is warming at double the rate of the rest of the world. I guess our graduates will learn the truth on that one.
However it turns out, I wish these young people well and hope their future includes the best of all possible worlds, whatever it may be.
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There are deliberately false news stories, then there is satire. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. A Beaverton piece explaining how Alberta Premier Jason Kenny’s plans to sue the province’s wildfires for defaming the oil industry was an obvious spoof, as was another one blaming wolves for forest destruction. Some thought a Business in Vancouver article claiming B.C.’s economy will tank without the support of money laundering was also a spoof but it wasn’t.
The article warned that without “laundered” money, the high- end retail sector (costly cars, luxury jewellery, etc.) would collapse, creating financial chaos in the province. Attorney General David Eby, who has declared war on so-called dirty money, is not buying this argument.
One false story is being challenged.
A company that hosted an Internet advertisement with a false claim about NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been ordered by the Commissioner of Canada Elections to reveal who paid for the ad.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian and book author.