By Travis Poland
Climate change is ruining our winter fun. While some people may not be complaining about Ottawa’s lack of cold days, the disturbing weather pattern is having an impact on one of the city’s main winter attractions. It’s been a bad year for the Rideau Canal Skateway. The entire 7.8 km stretch of ice, which earns the title of the “World’s Longest Skating Rink,” did not fully open until Feb. 12, and has only been open intermittently since.
Before that, select sections opened (and subsequently closed) since late January. Despite the efforts of the National Capital Commission, the ice has been in poor condition more often than not. If this trend continues, the season may be shorter than the 2001-2002 season when the Skateway was only opened for 35 days.
The warm weather and poor ice condition have hindered the annual Winterlude festival, which is over three decades old. This year’s Winterlude was scheduled to run from Jan. 29 to Feb. 15. While some of the annual festivities were to proceed, a number of events had to be relocated or cancelled.
By Feb. 1, the warm weather had caused ice slides at Jacques Cartier Park to be closed and some of the ice sculptures at Confederation Parks “Crystal Garden” melted into unrecognizable shapes mere days after their carving.
Conversely, the last of the weekend concerts at Winterlude was cancelled due to an extreme cold advisory. However, this should not discredit the impact climate change is having on the community. This was the first extreme cold warning of this winter and this year’s weather has still been warmer than previous years.
According to Environment Canada, in 2015 the average mean temperature in Ottawa during January was -13.2 C and in 2014 the average mean January temperature was -11.6 C. Ottawa’s average mean temperature during Jan. 2016 was -8 C, which makes it the warmest in the last five years.
While the negative effects on a winter carnival may not seem all that important in the grand scheme of things, it does represent an effect of climate change that is not only visible but hits close to home. Compared to previous years, it is almost surreal to see the Rideau Canal in its current state, empty and a mess of slush, a fact that has surely been noticed by many in the downtown core, and especially by those who might depend on on the extra income that the festival affords.
Ottawa is not immune to the effects of climate change, and it can only be hoped that incidents like these will remind us of this fact, and will encourage more to take it upon themselves to get informed and to act.
Even the new Liberal government has recognized the need to combat the impacts of climate change and the government climate change website boasts that they are taking action. For example, the government plans on having a $2 billion Low Carbon Economy Trust to fund projects that reduce carbon and they hope to fulfill a G20 commitment and phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
The information looks good on a website but in the next four years, the government will have to show they’re capable of leading by example, and we will have to show that we’re capable of of taking our own initiative. Afterall, while it may turn out to be the first casualty, there’s more more at stake than just our winter fun.
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 8 No. 5 (Feb/March 2016).
