The Regional Geography of Canada

REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF CANADA: CLIMATE CHANGE
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Umiujaq is one of the remote villages in east Canada near the shore of Hudson Bay that has recorded a double rate of warming compared to other places in the world. Besides the residents reminiscing on the good old days of ice-fishing, global warming now threatens other lifestyles ranging from the only surviving Inuit traditions such as hunting to clothing (AFP, 2015). Global warming has serious economic, social, and health impacts and will require overarching changes in the immediate future. Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing modern Canada, both as a whole and regionally. Over the recent past, there have been severe weather events, including tornados, flooding, and superstorms, especially in Atlantic Canada, Ontario, and Quebec. In Western Canada, residents have witnessed wildfires that have become increasingly common. The impact of climate change disproportionately affects the minority groups, including the rural people, aboriginals, and people living in poverty.
Further, there have been significant financial impacts with the country increasing its spending in severe weather claims from $400 million per year between 1983 and 2004 to $1 billion between 2004 and 2019. Climate change has also affected Northern life, with temperatures rising since 1920 on average of 1.50C and sea ice shrinking at a rate of 7 % between 1978 and 2003. Furthermore, Canadians have been forced to change their travel patterns as well as their traditional ways of life. Among other Canada’s pressing challenges such as reconciliation, racism, and multiculturalism, the changing of climate affect broader physiographic regions, including political, urban, and economic geographies.
Climate change continues to impact Canada’s political geography, with a major division being witnessed between Provincial and Federal governments as well as the three levels of governments in the country, including the Federal, Provincial, and Municipal ideologies about carbon taxes. While the Municipal jurisdictions are at the whim of provinces, the Federal and Provincial jurisdictions are defined in the Constitution. The Federal Government is in charge of matters relating to international relations and defense, citizenship, taxation, postal services, marriages, criminal law, and trade, while the Provincial Government has jurisdictions in healthcare, provincial taxes, education, natural resources, and municipalities. However, the country’s federalism has been faced with several issues such as changes in technology, power negotiation, regional differences, and other jurisdictional matters. Recent policies such as the Buffalo Declaration and the Leap Manifesto demonstrate the power struggle in Canada, especially between the people of Alberta and the Federal government. While the Federal government maintains that carbon tax is a measure to arrest climate change, the people of Alberta feel that it is a policy of political and economic strangulation and usurping their sovereignty over natural resources. With the Buffalo Declaration strongly against the carbon tax, the Leap Manifesto hopes that Canada is capable of becoming a 100% clean economy by 2050 by fighting climate ...