I know this will never make it onto the election radar screen, but it should.
I refer to the shocking underfunding of Environment Canada, which has been slashing costs, relying on automated stations, and generally limping along for more than a decade.
Environment Canada is, in fact, the country’s very own weather service. Does no one in Ottawa see that? Furthermore, does no one care?
The problems began in the mid- 1990s, when the then-Liberal government instituted cuts in an attempt to balance the books. Subsequent governments have not restored funding; indeed, matters are getting worse, not better. Even an internal report prepared for Environment Canada says there are significant problems.
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For example, automated weather stations are unable to accurately measure snow. The issue came to light in Regina earlier this winter, when the machine was unable to read snowfall due to howling winds.
This is a huge issue for agriculture, as well as for other industries and municipalities. How does one plan without accurate weather forecasts?
Allow me to provide an example. During the nasty, cold spring of 2009, I interviewed a farmer near Yorkton who woke up to 20 to 30 centimetres of snow in the middle of May. His livestock was already out in the pasture.
Now I’ve grown up on the Prairies, and I am aware that it does snow in May; but you’d think a foot of snow overnight might get people’s attention. A foot of snow makes you sit up and notice in the dead of winter.
How much snow did Environment Canada predict for the Yorkton area? Zero centimetres. The entire storm came utterly out of the blue. Or, I suppose I mean grey, but you get the idea.
It is not impossible to predict the weather. I called Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. and asked him what his prediction was for that May night: 20 centimetres, or so. He’s in Kansas City, and his call was much closer.
Environment Canada’s issues will be subsumed in the next few weeks by coalitions and education policies and whether people should be participating in debates.
Once that’s over, I hope the next government takes a hard look at this significant problem. Farmers – indeed, all the people of Canada – deserve better weather forecasting for industry, for safety and for sanity.
