The Status Quo Is a Lit Match

Does it make you angry when our leaders say that the wildfires devastating our province are just the new normal?Right now, we are told to move past politics. To rally around the flag and uncritically embrace bad policy choices. But how can we ask British Columbians to watch our province burn and look past the cause? How can we ignore that politics is the reason tens of thousands of our neighbours are huddled in shelters, unsure if they’ll ever see their communities whole again?Those in power act shocked every year at the incineration of our province. But they hold the power to change our future and they choose not to.I think of those on the front lines who see this firsthand. I think of the firefighter who said, “Climate change isn’t a prediction. It is the shift we are already working.”Handouts are offered to LNG corporations, billions are spent on pipelines, and AI data centres are celebrated. The status quo is a lit match.But we have the tools to stop this. We can fund FireSmart and implement the Abbott Chapman Report. We can ban glyphosate and manage forests without letting companies decimate the ecosystems that resist fire and help prevent wildfires.We can cut off the endless subsidies to foreign and fossil fuel corporations and build the renewable future we need.It’s mind numbing that decades of political choices have guaranteed the profits of the few and the suffering of the many at the cost of our future, our children, and all the creatures that are suffering because of these choices.The BC NDP must listen to firefighters, to Indigenous nations, and to their own members who tell them that fossil fuel expansion, the very thing causing these wildfires, must end.We have the chance to prevent these hellish summers from getting worse. But it comes down to a choice.The BC NDP must make the right one. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit quietcanines.substack.com/subscribe