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The facts are clear: Canada is warming at twice the global rate, and Alberta’s per-capita emissions are more than three times the national average. Our province is already seeing the devastating effects of an early and severe wildfire season. This is happening now, and many young people are rightly very concerned.

It is ironic and instructive that Smith attempts to dismiss their voices, and suggests they have been mis-educated. Fortunately, youth in Alberta are leading the way.

And it’s no coincidence: These generations and those after them will be the ones who have to live with the devastating effects of climate change, left to them by earlier generations — a fact made particularly poignant knowing that global oil giant Exxon confirmed the science of climate change back in 1977.

We should be heartened that young people aren’t dwelling too much on blaming and are instead taking the lead themselves.

And to clarify the point on leadership, Public Interest Alberta and labour unions were not leading the way in organizing Green New Deal events across Alberta. Those events are being fully organized by Alberta youth who are vitally concerned about the future of their province and the planet. We believe it is crucial to support them in their important work, and our organization is proud to play a role in publicizing their efforts.

The key problem now is this: Not only is Alberta failing to make progress in addressing climate change, we are actually moving backwards. Our new government pays lip service to climate science, but is repealing even the modest climate plan Alberta had in place. Smith’s climate-change denial and Premier Jason Kenney’s climate-change inaction are flip sides of the same coin, with potentially dire consequences.