Climate change is a serious problem that must be taken seriously by our elected officials. We need our federal government to take action and reduce Canada's emissions now. So when you head to the polls on October 19, make sure you know where the candidates in your riding stand on climate change, and vote for someone you can trust to stand up for a healthy environment and low-carbon future that benefits us all.

The ecological and physical consequences of blowing our carbon budget, from disappearing coastlines to a melting arctic, are stark but often hard for someone like Minister Flaherty to understand. This ignorance, willful or accidental, is dangerous because it is also obscuring major economic consequences.

It was less than six months ago that a handful of energy companies resorted to selling off portions of their stake in the oil patch after failing to garner the kind of investor support they needed to fund major projects.

It feels like I'm watching some sort of terrible, tragic cosmic joke as the climate talks in Warsaw prepare to open with a bleak prospect for any real action while Haiyan returns to make the point that the world seemed to miss with Bopha last year. The United Nations climate talks have devolved into what feels like a negotiated surrender.