FREDERICTON – Warming temperatures, rising sea levels and coastal erosion are threatening communities up and down New Brunswick, but with just over one week to the provincial election, some voters say the topic of climate change hasn’t been given enough attention during the campaign.

Housing and health care have dominated the headlines, said Donald Wright, a professor of political science at University of New Brunswick. But he said climate change is just as important because it is intertwined with both those issues.

The province can expect increasingly hotter summers, which bring health risks, and flooding, which threatens homes, said Wright, a contributor to Yale Climate Connections at Yale University. New Brunswick has to adapt its infrastructure, emergency response and health-care system to the changing climate, he added.

“It certainly has to adapt its public health care to meet the challenges of extreme weather, extreme heat events.”

But in the recent debate with all three main party leaders on stage, not one question was about climate. “I was stunned by the climate silence,” he said.

In Shippagan-Les-Îles, a riding by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, residents are dealing with coastal erosion, flooding and eroded sand dunes, said Wilfred Roussel, candidate for the Green Party. Locals are so concerned by the changing climate that he decided to come out of retirement to run for office, he said.

Roussel, who was mayor of Le Goulet from 2012 to 2014, said people in the region who live near the water have lost 30 to 45 metres of land; houses that once looked out over the ocean are now in danger of being washed away.

“It’s starting to get very dangerous for people living in those houses,” he said. “Something must be done. And municipalities do not have the budget to do this.”

Andrew Black is mayor of Tantramar, a municipality located close to the Bay of Fundy and the Chignecto Isthmus — a land link connecting New Brunswick with Nova Scotia. The isthmus is particularly vulnerable to climate change, he said, and rising seas will potentially flood the area and destroy homes and infrastructure. The floodwater could salinate arable farmland and make it unusable for generations, he added.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are fighting with the federal government over who should pay to adapt the isthmus to climate risks.

Coastal erosion is also a major concern, considering that much of Tantramar is located within the United Nations recognized Fundy biosphere, Black said.

“This region is well known for its teaming flora and fauna that is appreciated not only by our community but by many tourists who flock to this area,” he said. “Having our coastline erode would cause not only a climate disaster but also impact our tourism, economic development and biodiversity within our region.”

And despite the real economic, health, and environmental risks of climate change, parties shy away from the topic because they fear alienating voters, Wright said.

“They don’t want to be seen as prophets of the apocalypse,” he said. “They want to keep a positive, upbeat message. But the reality is, our climate is changing in real time, and we have to adapt every sector of our economy, every system of our economy.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs said on Oct. 7 that his climate change plan can be found in his government’s energy strategy, released in December, which aims to make New Brunswick carbon neutral within 12 years. “So I’m not going to invent a new (policy) on the bus,” he said.

Higgs has also promised to sue Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government over the federal carbon pricing scheme. The carbon tax is affecting all New Brunswickers by driving up the cost of living, and it also has “hidden costs” that many do not consider, he said in a recent news release.

Wright called the threat of the lawsuit against the federal government over the carbon price “diversionary and a waste of time.”

The Liberal platform calls for reviewing and updating the province’s emergency preparedness to deal with the increasing number of extreme climate-change-related weather events, and implementing a coastal erosion plan to protect communities.

Last week, Liberal Leader Susan Holt highlighted the need for a coastal erosion plan, and more funds to help New Brunswickers who are losing their shorelines and homes. In her platform, she said, “You see a focus on clean air and clean water, a mass electrification of the government’s fleet, and a goal to get our own grid and production of electricity to 100-per-cent non-emitting.”

The Green Party has promised to create a climate fund to help municipalities pay for adaptation measures; create a new agency to help communities protect their coastlines; and launch a youth corps to train people aged 17-30 in climate action.

“The Greens are the only ones who have made commitments that recognize the extreme urgency to make New Brunswick climate-ready to safeguard homes and save lives,” party leader David Coon said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

MONTREAL – Two men were charged with second-degree murder and arson on Saturday, a week after a fire ravaged an Old Montreal building, killing a mother and daughter from France.

The early morning blaze claimed the lives of Léonor Geraudie, 43, and her seven-year-old daughter Vérane Reynaud Geraudie.

The fire erupted on the ground floor of the building and spread to the upper two levels which housed a hostel. Police have said 25 people were in the building at the time of the Oct. 4 fire, which injured three others.

Justin Fortier-Trahan, 20, and Juventino Hernandez Pelaez, 18, appeared in court Saturday charged in the deaths.

They also face a charge of arson causing bodily harm in connection to another man, and recklessly endangering life by damaging a property by fire or explosion.

After their arrests Friday, Cmdr. Jean-Sébastien Caron said at a news conference that one was suspected of using “an incendiary object” to set fire to the building, while the second is accused of driving a getaway vehicle.

Caron said both suspects were known to police but would not elaborate.

In addition to the Oct. 4 fire in Old Montreal, Fortier-Trahan and Hernandez Pelaez have been charged with arson in connection to another fire that took place roughly two hours earlier at a building on Wellington Street in Montreal’s Sud-Ouest borough.

Police spokesperson Caroline Chèvrefils told The Canadian Press on Saturday that police were called about a fire on Wellington Street fire just before 1 a.m. on Oct. 4, shortly before the fire erupted at around 2:40 a.m. in Old Montreal that same morning.

City records show the Old Montreal building belongs to Emile Benamor, who also owns another building in the same neighbourhood that caught fire in March 2023 when seven people died.

Chèvrefils would not say whom the building on Wellington Street belongs to, but a city of Montreal website lists a different person as the property owner.

Police said Benamor has been co-operating with the investigation into the Old Montreal fires.

Earlier this week, a third building owned by Benamor in the historic neighbourhood was struck by gunfire. Three people, including two teenagers, were arrested.

Police have not said whether those suspects were linked to the fatal Oct. 4. fire.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

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TORONTO – A Jewish school for elementary girls was struck by gunshots for the second time in six months, Toronto police said Saturday as they announced an investigation.

Toronto Police Service said officers responded to a call about a smashed window at Bais Chaya Mushka in the city’s north end at around 4 a.m. Saturday.

“Upon further investigation, it was determined that shots had been fired,” Insp. Paul Krawczyk, the officer in charge of the investigation, told reporters.

Krawczyk said while the school was empty at the time and no one was harmed, such attacks cause concerns within the Jewish community.

Krawczyk said the force’s gun and gang task force is leading the investigation, with support from members of the hate crime unit.

He added that police could not confirm whether the incident is considered a hate crime, but he noted there were signs the attack could have been motivated by hatred since it occurred on a holy day of the Jewish calendar.

“It is Yom Kippur, and a Jewish school has been shot up. So that is why the hate crime unit is a big part of this investigation,” Krawczyk said.

The same school was the target of another shooting in May, and police said a key part of the investigation is to find out whether the two incidents are connected.

“We understand the fear and pain that incidents like this cause especially on a day as sacred as Yom Kippur,” Krawczyk said. “Our priority is your safety and we are committed to doing everything we can to find those responsible.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a social media post that he was “very disturbed” by the attack on the school.

“As we wait for more details, my heart goes out to the students, staff, and parents who must be terrified and hurting today,” he wrote on X, formerly know as Twitter.

“Antisemitism is a disgusting and dangerous form of hate — and we won’t let it stand.”

Toronto mayor Olivia Chow called the shooting a “horrific antisemitic act” motivated by “disgusting hate.”

“I reiterate that the students of Bais Chaya Mushka have the right to learn, and the teachers have a right to teach, in safety and without fear of antisemitic attacks,” she said a statement posted on her X account.

“Jewish families and the Jewish community should not be made to fear for their safety. Antisemitic violence and threats are unacceptable.”

Krawczyk said police had increased their presence in the Jewish neighbourhoods in the past couple of weeks, and that they will continue to have more presence in the area as the investigation continues.

“We understand this is deeply unsettling for the Jewish community, especially today, on such a significant day.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

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