Attendees at the Elbows Up for Climate conference in Edmonton gave a standing ovation to former federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault and called for a national windfall tax on oil companies. The event, held at the Art Gallery of Alberta on Thursday, brought together over 300 mayors and municipal councillors from across Canada to push for environmental action.
Wildfire Risks Highlighted
John Vaillant, author of the bestselling Fire Weather, noted the irony of Guilbeault—a frequent target of the Alberta government during his tenure—being celebrated just a short walk from the provincial legislature. Vaillant and Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland delivered stark warnings about the dangers of supercharged wildfires.
Ireland recounted the 2024 wildfire that destroyed much of Jasper, including his own home. Despite extensive preparation inspired by the Fort McMurray fire, the blaze overwhelmed defenses. 'We spent a lot of time planning and preparing, but we were not prepared for the ferocity, the intensity and the size of that fire,' he said. 'It wasn’t the fire that got our town, it was the ember shower that landed on structures.'
Climate Change and Fire Behavior
Vaillant explained that while forest fires are natural, the 'supercharged' fires seen in Fort McMurray, Jasper, Los Angeles, and Greece are unprecedented. 'There’s no getting around the fact that weather is different now, and fire is different now,' he said. 'We’ve always had big fires, but not this bad, not this often.'
He predicted a future where planes are grounded due to extreme heat and pavement buckles under intense temperatures. Vaillant accused oil and gas companies of 'charging the climate with carbon' while enjoying record profits, calling current oil prices above $100 a barrel an example of 'war profiteering.' He urged Ottawa to impose a windfall tax on the industry.
'One way to understand capitalism, as it is currently practiced, is as a Ponzi scheme,' Vaillant said, where the environment is leveraged and rising global temperatures represent the 'interest on that debt.'
