This report, warning Alberta faces profound human-induced climate impacts, was sent to the Kenney government more than 6 months ago. Do you think the government tried to bury it? globalnews.ca/news/6600989/a… #abpoli #ableg #AlbertasClimateFuture
Alberta Environment and Parks previously refused to release the report, despite two requests made through freedom of information legislation.
In August, they said they wouldn't release it to @AFedLabour research director Tony Clark, because they were planning to release it within 90 days.
After I asked for it in December, they told me they wouldn't release it because it would be released within 60 days... It wound up being released 66 days after my #cdnfoi request.
In an interview, @SPhillipsAB said she asked to see the report, available in draft form when she was minister, but was never given a copy.
"Now we see just a sort of comedy of errors in terms of its release,” she told @globalnews. “It certainly seems that people don’t want to talk about this within the Government of Alberta.”
Environment Minister @JasonNixonAB wasn't available for an interview, but his office said in a statement that it was common practice to release research of this nature through a provincial "open data" website.
When @HeatherYourex & I asked why someone had backdated the report to Sept. 1, 2019 online, burying it on the provincial website, we received no response.
The report itself, co-authored by @KHayhoe , warns of profound climate impacts in Alberta, which like other parts of Canada is projected to warm faster than the rest of the world.
"Projected changes will profoundly impact Alberta’s natural environment, and have the potential to affect the province’s agriculture, infrastructure, and natural resources, as well as the health and welfare of its inhabitants," the report says.
You can download the full report, over here: open.alberta.ca/publications/a…
At this point, there have been 52 downloads... and counting.
Our online story has been updated with additional comments from the government. It says the report was queued up for release in the fall, but delayed as it waited for backup data. Due to the rising public interest and #cdnfoi requests, they decided to release it this week.
UPDATE: The 50-page report about Alberta’s Climate Future by scientists @KHayhoe and Anne Stoner has now been downloaded about 1,100 times and counting since the Global News report by @HeatherYourex open.alberta.ca/publications/a…
