Out of the West Coast wildfire smoke, David Suzuki emerges blazing mad

David Suzuki was waiting for a seaplane flight from Vancouver’s waterfront Friday when he noticed a press conference outside the small airport. Federal Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault, the MP for Edmonton Centre, was there to announce almost $1.2 million in federal funding to bolster tourism in British Columbia, so Suzuki walked over to listen.

What the 86-year-old environmentalist heard didn’t sit well with him.

At one point, Boissonnault gestured toward the North Shore Mountains across the water, shrouded in wildfire smoke, and remarked, “If a picture’s worth a thousand words, the view today’s a million.”

These words, which appeared to ignore the grave evidence of the climate emergency all around them, frustrated Suzuki. When a staffer opened the microphone to questions, Suzuki stepped up.

“All this bullshit about how you’re trying to encourage the coming together to this beautiful land, what are we doing about this land?” he asked. “We’re not doing the right things to ensure tourism into the future.

“Look at the smoke, that’s the new reality,” he continued. “You talk about tourism? What are they going to have to come here in British Columbia if we’re not dealing with the major issues that confront us? The loss of biodiversity, old-growth forests being cut down and climate change from the use of fossil fuel.”

Even though he used just one expletive, Suzuki’s words were reported by CTV News Vancouver as a “profanity-laden rant.” This framing provided fodder for climate denialists and right-wing media pundits, who jumped on the opportunity to accuse Suzuki of hypocrisy and aggression. Meanwhile, climate justice organizers applauded Suzuki for his candour, and NDP MP Charlie Angus tweeted his support. But media treatment of the event skirted the main issues behind Suzuki’s words.

Speaking on the phone from his home in Vancouver on Tuesday evening, Suzuki called the conference a “hilarious presentation.” “Here was the minister of tourism coming to say that everyone is going to want to come to B.C. because of its great beauty,” said Suzuki. “When he was standing there, you couldn’t see the mountains behind him because of the smoke. The more he spoke, the madder I got.”

Suzuki explained pumping money into tourism while neglecting to take strong actions on the climate crisis is irresponsible. “If you’re serious about tourism in the future, you should be scared shitless about climate change because we’re in a drought right now,” Suzuki said.

He recalled that in August 2020, popular tourist destination Tofino placed restrictions on water usage during a similar drought that echoed the town’s 2006 water shortage, and noted Haida Gwaii is currently suffering from a loss of water due to insufficient rainfall. B.C.’s Sunshine Coast community declared a state of emergency over the drought on Monday. These rank alongside other extreme weather catastrophes in the province, like the heat dome, infrastructure-destroying floods and wildfires that razed towns to the ground as evidence the climate crisis is a drastic threat to British Columbia.

“I mean, goddammit, what’s it gonna take? If a tourism guy thinks he’s helping the tourist industry and he’s not saying, ‘Our government is working hard on climate change,’ then they’re not serious,” said Suzuki, who wasn’t surprised Boissonnault ignored his questions and comments. “They’re just not used to anybody getting up and blasting them like that.”

Suzuki said treating climate change as a strictly political issue that requires decorum is a barrier to necessary action. “[Politicians] and the media have a hard time dealing with someone who really is passionate about what they’re doing,” said Suzuki, praising Greta Thunberg’s forceful calls for climate action. He recalled a national radio host telling him that environmentalists were “too emotional.”

“Well, goddammit, the planet is under severe attack. The emotional response is the important thing,” said Suzuki. “If your mother was dying, and you went, ‘Well, she’s gonna die. Oh, well,’ you’d be saying, ‘What the hell’s wrong with this guy? Doesn’t he show any emotion for his mother?’ We’re talking about Mother Earth, for Christ’s sake.

“Talk about a new tax, and business guys will get emotional then, but that’s OK, I guess,” he added.

Suzuki encouraged others to seize opportunities to call out people in power for lack of climate action. “If there’s ever some announcement by some minister or whatever, people who are concerned about climate should jump up and really nail them,” said Suzuki.

“It’s just bullshit, it’s just words, and they’re not taking it seriously. They make an announcement in Kingston or in Halifax, people there ought to jump in. Don’t let these guys get away with this.”