This article was written by Jennifer Cole and was published in the Toronto Star on August 10, 2024.

Every summer wildfires devastate communities. Last summer it was Kelowna, B.C., this year it’s Jasper., Alta. And yet, Canada still exports coal, a fossil fuel contributing to climate change and wildfires.

According to researchers, the ferocity and frequency of wildfires are exacerbated by the effects of human-caused climate change and the burning of the above-mentioned fossil fuels.

Watching news reports of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith holding back tears as she spoke of Jasper’s destruction from a recent wildfire was heart-wrenching. But keep in mind that according to the Coal Association of Canada, the majority of coal produced in Canada comes from Alberta.

The federal government acknowledges that Canada is warming twice as fast as the global average, and therefore experiencing the consequences of global heating even more acutely than other places. In fact, in 2021 the government made an election promise to ban the export of thermal coal by 2030. Time is ticking and yet, instead of coal exports shrinking, they are increasing.

In 2023, Canada exported 19.5 million tonnes of thermal coal. That’s almost twice the amount that was exported in 2015 when the Liberals took power.

In the United States alone, carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal for energy accounted for about 19 per cent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2022. And then there’s metallurgical coal used for steel manufacture.

Canadian mines produced 47 million tonnes of coal in 2022, 59 per cent of which was metallurgical coal. Nearly two billion tonnes of steel is produced worldwide each year, accounting for about seven per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Again in fairness to the feds, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault did say in February he was concerned about coal export and that he’d have more to say in the coming months. It’s now the middle of summer, Jasper has burned. This is not a “no news is good news” scenario.

Guilbeault did express his “concern” about the export of coal this year and at the same time, a private members bill was introduced into the House of Commons by environment critic Laurel Collins.

She’s convinced that waiting until 2030 is too late for the ban to begin. Good point.

It might be prudent to fulfil the 2021 election promise of an export ban on coal sooner as opposed to later.

Currently, polls are not showing promise for the Liberal’s return to power in the next election. There’s no guarantee what a Conservative government with a penchant to support Alberta might do.

Will making a whole industry defunct be expensive and cost jobs? Yes, and that is enormously devastating. It’s a tricky situation but we shouldn’t expect solutions for global warming to come easily. Will halting the export of coal stop global warming and wildfires? No, but it will at least show that Canada is willing to do something, even if a drop in the bucket.

The real question is how many more Jaspers do there need to be before that happens?