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The Climate Change Thread
- Thread starter afransen
- Start date
kEiThZ
Superstar
Ex-MP and retired general Andrew Leslie is saying Canada needs a dedicated disaster response force that is adjunct or built into the CAF. Almost the same as what I've suggested. But I prefer the adjunct route.
Former National Security Advisor says it's been too easy to send the CAF into disasters and they shouldn't be the first line of defence against disasters.
kEiThZ
Superstar
Sometimes you gotta celebrate progress.
afransen
Senior Member
In some ways, it seems likely that the energy transition will happen despite our political dithering, and not because of it.
lenaitch
Senior Member
Of course the provinces think the CAF is a wonderful resource. It costs them not a dime in maintenance or deployment.
kEiThZ
Superstar
It's up to the Feds to be more disciplined and judicious about deploying the CAF or developing alternative forces. I'm actually all for Canada creating a national civil defence force that is specifically equipped, trained and mandated to operate on disasters.
lenaitch
Senior Member
There are pros and cons to involving the CAF in domestic operations, at least on the scale that we have seen. One 'pro' is that they are likely the only time many Canadians experience or interact with the CAF and it is generally a positive experience (or being part of the response to make a negative less negative). One big 'con' is that it detracts from their preparedness for their primary mandate.
In true Canadian fashion, we tend to favour the 'boy scout knife' approach; a multi-faceted response capability that can do most things reasonably well or efficiently but none of them particularly so. At the other end of the spectrum, the US tends to create a separate '3-letter' agency for every single facet. There are probably some constitutional reasons for a lot of that, and there was an effort to retrench some of it after 9/11 when DHS absorbed a number of separate agencies. Part of it is also sheer volume; they have 10x the population to be impacted by events and geographically, not significantly smaller.
Bottom line, in my opinion, is we always want to do everything on the cheap. Tack a role onto something that already exists, maybe toss them a few more bucks, then call it a win. I was recently reading where someone proposed that we should turn the RCMP, Coast Guard and Canadian Rangers into some form of National Guard-type domestic security service which, to me, is a mis-read of their current individual mandates and a lack of understanding of what domestic national security entails.
In true Canadian fashion, we tend to favour the 'boy scout knife' approach; a multi-faceted response capability that can do most things reasonably well or efficiently but none of them particularly so. At the other end of the spectrum, the US tends to create a separate '3-letter' agency for every single facet. There are probably some constitutional reasons for a lot of that, and there was an effort to retrench some of it after 9/11 when DHS absorbed a number of separate agencies. Part of it is also sheer volume; they have 10x the population to be impacted by events and geographically, not significantly smaller.
Bottom line, in my opinion, is we always want to do everything on the cheap. Tack a role onto something that already exists, maybe toss them a few more bucks, then call it a win. I was recently reading where someone proposed that we should turn the RCMP, Coast Guard and Canadian Rangers into some form of National Guard-type domestic security service which, to me, is a mis-read of their current individual mandates and a lack of understanding of what domestic national security entails.
kEiThZ
Superstar
Every major country has some form of civil defence agency. Some incorporate all of them into larger agencies. The US is actually kind of unique with its state level National Guard agencies and federal FEMA. I would suggest a model like the French for Canada:
en.m.wikipedia.org
Personally I also want to see the Coast Guard militarized and take over everything from Search and Rescue to domestic Arctic Surveillance to maritime law enforcement.
Sécurité Civile - Wikipedia
Personally I also want to see the Coast Guard militarized and take over everything from Search and Rescue to domestic Arctic Surveillance to maritime law enforcement.
Memph
Active Member
Only coastal BC, and mostly just in the winter. Many interior BC areas like the Okanagan where Kelowna is located are semi-arid climates that get less than half as much annual precipitation as southern Ontario.
Annual precipitation
Owen Sound: 1114mm
Parry Sound: 1091mm
London: 1012mm
Montreal: 1000mm
Kingston: 960mm
Niagara Falls: 948mm
Ottawa: 943mm
Windsor: 935mm
Goderich: 936mm
Barrie: 933mm
Bancroft: 905mm
Sudbury: 903mm
Tobermory: 809mm
Toronto: 786mm
Interior BC
Castlegar: 751mm
Salmon Arm: 653mm
Creston: 662mm
Lytton: 431mm
Kelowna: 387mm
Cranbrook: 385mm
Princeton: 347mm
Osoyoos: 323mm
Merritt: 321mm
Kamloops: 278mm
And even coastal BC can get a bit parched during the summer because they get most of their rain during the winter. Only exception is the sparsely populated Pacific facing side of Vancouver island (ex Tofino) which gets moist summers and diluvial winters.
May-Sep average precipitation
Tofino: 575mm
Ottawa: 440mm
Windsor: 431mm
Toronto: 374mm
Abbotsford: 339mm
Campbell River: 270mm
Vancouver: 242mm
Nanaimo: 187mm
Comox: 186mm
Victoria: 108mm
The east shore of Vancouver Island typically sees the lawns turn yellow during the summer, whereas in Ontario that only happens during drought summers - during more average summers the grass remains green here.
Oct-Mar average precipitation
Tofino: 2427mm
Campbell River: 1127mm
Abbotsford: 1081mm
Comox: 903mm
Nanaimo: 902mm
Vancouver: 858mm
Victoria: 472mm
Ottawa: 429mm
Windsor: 421mm
Toronto: 343mm
Brands
Active Member
Thousands of jobs in Canada depends on snow being on the ground.
I hate winter, but...
I hate winter, but...
Towered
Superstar
OMG - I need to move to Kamloops. Way less than even HALF the average rainfall of Toronto?!?!?!? As someone who absolutely despises rain (and humidity), that sounds like the sweet spot in Canada...
lenaitch
Senior Member
Until the fire season comes. Low humidity has its costs.
Memph
Active Member
Best balance of low humidity and relatively low fire risk would probably be SE Alberta like Medicine Hat or Brooks. Brooks gets 2.5x less precipitation than Toronto and 3x less than most of southern Ontario, but because it's Prairie all around, wild fires are easier to control than in BC where there's more trees (fuel). I prefer the scenery of the mountains though, but I also don't mind rain so much as the heavily overcast weather we get here in the winter.
kEiThZ
Superstar
‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair
Exclusive: Survey of hundreds of experts reveals harrowing picture of future, but they warn climate fight must not be abandoned
www.theguardian.com
slickpete83
Active Member
lol.. anytime now, the more things change the more they remind the same
