Reader cites story suggesting climate change a factor in northern wildfire

Mayor Henk DeVlieger and members of council:

Suspension of your employee regarding climate change remark.

The following link is from BBC, a not insignificant news source with world-renowned writers and accuracy second to none.

‘Perfect storm’ of El Niño and warming boosted Alberta fires – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36212145

Clearly there are links to the Fort McMurray fire and our changing climate. Not letting fires burn more frequently is another reason.

Several other world news sources including the CBC also cited our changing climate so what your employee was doing was agreeing with world renown sources.

Back in 1971, my first professional job was with the Oldman River Regional Planning Commission. I was assigned as the planner to your town and found it a pleasure to work with, forward thinking and progressive. To hear an employee is suspended for agreeing with what most competent scientists in the world think, is totally unacceptable.

His remarks may have been inappropriate, but were certainly not false or incorrect. Suspending someone’s livelihood for saying something you disagree with is blatantly wrong.

Your suspension has made national news and will go international, and it makes the Town of Taber look just plain stupid, unfair and with your head in the sand. That is not the community I worked for and with for 8 years.

What has happened to Taber? Losing your job for telling a truth!

Code Clements
Cherry Grove, Alberta