giant deception

The latest in a litany of climate disaster messages from Bowinn Ma, BC Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, was delivered in the CTV News story, B.C. preparing for 'new reality' of longer more widespread droughts, minister says. That report includes this dire photo and caption:

Chapman Lake, which provides most of the drinking water for the Sunshine Coast, was at 14 per cent capacity as of Sept. 8, 2023. (CTV)
​

The text of the CTV article includes:

British Columbia's ongoing drought is unlike any previous one in provincial history, according to Bowinn Ma, B.C.'s minister of emergency management and climate readiness.

"The type of drought that British Columbia – and the government of British Columbia – is typically familiar with is localized, short-term drought, and that's what a lot of our drought planning is based on," Ma said at a news conference Wednesday.

"What we're facing in B.C. this year, and what is likely to happen more and more into the future as a result of climate change, is widespread, province-wide, prolonged drought."

Why is the government’s planning based on short-term drought events that don’t create problems?

Back in August, Ma was interviewed on CBC’s Power & Politics. That video titled 'It is clear that the climate crisis is upon us,' B.C. minister says, includes her statement:

Here in British Columbia, we are at unprecedented drought levels across the entire province. We have not seen this level of drought ever in BC’s history. … wrong.

Then, during a press conference (September 7, 2023), Ma also provided this bit of drama:

It is unlike any kind of drought conditions the province has ever faced and, in my opinion, truly is a sleeping giant of a natural disaster that we are challenged with right now … the impacts will be very, very real. (emphasis added)

There is no doubt that BC is currently experiencing very dry conditions, but is it unlike any kind of drought conditions the province has ever faced … a sleeping giant? Apparently it’s going to get very, very real … scary stuff.

Does the Environment Canada data support her alarm? Let’s start with the Sunshine Coast, serviced by the pictured Chapman Lake reservoir. June through August rainfall amounts (from the longest available local measurements at Merry Island Lightstation) demonstrate that this year’s drought in the Sechelt area is not unprecedented:

​ * 2022 & 2021 are included because they are alleged to have been significant drought years.
​
1967 was a dry summer throughout BC and, like 2023, some areas saw drought and some didn’t. Summer rainfall comparisons across the province include:

​1967 was also the year that the Chapman Lake system was taken over by the Sunshine Coast Regional District. Back then there were roughly 8,000 residents serviced by that supply and it was considered more than adequate for decades to come, but now there is a population of about 32,000 … four times as many using the same source. Clearly, any water emergency on the Sunshine Coast arises from over-use of an outdated reservoir, not from lack of summer rain, given that winter precipitation replenishes the local watershed each year.

Regarding the province as a whole, Bowinn Ma was asked in a July 28, 2023, Global News interview titled Wildfires and severe drought in BC:

Do we need to do better planning when it comes to water storage infrastructure? Do we have enough, do we need to add more, what are we looking at?

Rather than answer that important governance question, she spun the issue saying that people need to shift their mindset towards greater conservation. Then Ma blames Climate Change for any and all situations, as always:

Overall, what we’re also seeing are the impacts of the climate crisis and they’re hitting BC very hard. It’s not just the wildfires, it’s not just the drought, it’s also the extreme heat and the extreme cold in the winter. It’s about winter storms, it’s about avalanches. All of those kinds of hazards are becoming more significant throughout the province, and that’s why the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, the one that I lead now, was created. … avalanches?

This classic scapegoating tries to hide the real sleeping giant – lack of planning leading to infrastructure inadequacies. From the Minister’s perspective, the public simply needs to accept that any actual emergency, including dry reservoirs, are beyond their government’s control. The only thing that those in power have to do is keep drumming the climate crisis message into our simple little minds.

Ma's position on drought is another example of why the Climate Change disaster-narrative is a politician's biggest friend … and like the Friendly Giant, the gullible are welcomed to a make-believe fortress of misinformation. 

Shhhhhhhh ... the giant is sleeping.
​