When we complain about this being the hottest summer we can remember, one must also recognize that it will likely be the coolest summer we’ll experience moving forward.
This summer has been the second-worst wildfire season on record in Canada, with fires blazing across the country. The most immediate consequence of these fires has been record-breaking smoke, with cities including Winnipeg and Toronto recording the worst air quality in the world. Canadians literally can‘t breathe. The problem has been compounded by intense heat and drought throughout much of the country; according to the Canadian Government, Canada has been warming at more than twice the global rate. And yet the fires and rising temperatures are only the most obvious manifestation of the much larger problem of climate change, whose effects are wide-ranging and formidable. A recent Canadian Press story about the rise of lung cancer in women who had never smoked cited smoke in the air as a potential cause. Dr. Rosalyn Juergens, a medical oncologist at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences Centre, said studies have shown that people living in areas with high air pollution rates have a higher risk of developing lung cancer. “More women will die of lung cancer than will die of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and cervical cancer combined,” Juergens said.” Communities are also seeing the impact of flooding and hurricanes across the country. Those impacts highlight the urgent need to put equity and human rights at the core of decision-making and action on the issue.
The economic consequences of climate change are immense. A Health Canada report estimates that in the years 2013-2018, between $410 million to $1.8 billion was spent dealing with the short-term health effects of poor air quality, and an astounding $4.3 billion to $19 billion for long-term health effects. In August 2025, the Canadian government announced almost $46 million in funding for wildfire prevention and risk assessment research projects. The lead economist at the Canadian Climate Institute estimates that the health cost to Ontario residents from forest fires between June 4 and June 8, 2025 alone was $1.28 billion. Meanwhile, labour union groups are calling for new air quality standards for those working outdoors. If their proposed changes go through, the economic and social consequences of delayed construction projects would be substantial. Parents are speaking out about their children’s classrooms and the lack of air conditioning and air filtration. Outside of Canada, the costs also continue to grow. According to a recent estimate by Forbes, “Climate change is on track to cost the global economy $38 trillion a year in damages within the next 25 years”.
Climate change also creates significant political costs to Canada. Recently, right-wing American politicians have angrily claimed that Canada is not doing enough to deal with wildfires. In August, members of Congress from Michigan issued a joint statement complaining that: “Instead of enjoying family vacations at Michigan’s beautiful lakes and campgrounds, for the third summer in a row, Michiganders are forced to breathe hazardous air as a result of Canada’s failure to prevent and control wildfires.” Rep. John James of Michigan also remarked that “Canada’s laissez-faire approach to public health, security and environmental responsibility is unravelling decades of goodwill and cross-border co-operation”. These comments obscure the fact that the main driver of these fires is climate change, an issue which Republicans and their allies have sought to downplay, despite the fact that it is the “outsized U.S. contribution to heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels like coal and gas that cause more intense heat waves and droughts, which in turn set the stage for more destructive wildfires.” They also fail to acknowledge that Canadian and US fire crews have long been working together in a common effort to combat fires in both countries.
Perhaps most importantly, climate change affects the lives and livelihoods of vast numbers of ordinary people – with the negative consequences falling disproportionately on members of poor, racialized, and marginalized communities. As Oxfam notes, “Climate change affects the most vulnerable first and worst”. For such communities, climate change accentuates existing inequalities in ways that pose a threat to “the right to life, health, food, water, housing, security and the rights of Indigenous peoples”. Especially at risk are developing countries, particularly coastal countries and small island states. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), for example, “between 2010 and 2020, human mortality from floods, droughts, and storms was 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions”. In Canada as well, poor and marginalized communities suffer most. Indigenous communities in northern Canada, for example, face some of the worst effects of climate change. Climate change also disproportionately affects women, increasing their vulnerability to disease, displacement, and gender-based violence. Meanwhile, children are at higher risk of experiencing health issues as a result of smoke inhalation, food insecurity, and other sanitary issues, and also bear the brunt of this disaster in their lifetimes.
The bitter irony is that the communities most deeply affected by climate change are those least responsible for causing it, and they have the fewest resources to cope with its negative impact. A detailed study from Nova Scotia concludes that Indigenous and Black populations there are especially exposed to the negative effects of climate change and have less power to resist or shape policy to address it. By contrast, the wealthiest populations are both the principal drivers of climate change and the ones who have the resources to insulate themselves from its worst consequences. Over the past 25 years, “the richest one percent of the world’s population has been responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the three billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity”. In Canada and around the world, the fossil fuel industry remains the single-largest source of the emissions that drive climate change.
So, what can be done? At a minimum, those Governments and corporations most responsible for climate change must act in accordance with the principle of “climate justice” – that responsibility for addressing climate change “should be divided according to who is contributing most to the problem”. More specifically, Governments and corporations – especially the fossil fuel industry – should adopt policies and practices that recognize that the impact of climate change is inherently unequal, hitting the poor, the marginalized, women, and children hardest. That means investing in programs – in public health, housing, social support, and other areas – that make such populations less vulnerable to extreme weather events; empowering racialized and local communities to play a meaningful role in decision-making with respect to climate change; and supporting initiatives aimed at combatting “environmental racism,” like Canada’s Environmental Racism Bill. If Governments and corporations fail to do these things, everyone is at risk, and those who are already marginalized will be hit even harder. On the other hand, taking these measures seriously will help to mitigate the worst consequences of climate change for the most vulnerable, and at the same time strengthen our economies, our social fabric, and even our foreign relations.
Canada has rightly been focussed on the economy and the impact of US tariffs. However, climate change is not just bad for our environment and our health, but is an economic issue; one that must be top of mind as governments look to support Canadians in an economic downturn.
Pam Damoff, CEO, Pearson Centre
Sofia Robinson, Research Assistant, Pearson Centre
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