The Victoria Times-Colonist ran this letter Sunday:

Re: “A climatologist, not just a skeptic,” Sept. 21.

Tim Ball takes issue with an earlier description of him as a climate change “skeptic,” claiming instead that he is a “climatologist” fully conversant with “the absolute latest in modern science.”

Yet the record shows that since his retirement as a University of Winnipeg geography professor in 1996, Ball has aligned himself with oil-industry front groups (Friends of Science, Envirotruth) and traded on a very light resume to sustain his busy calendar as a speaker and lobbyist against the Kyoto accord.

If the Victoria Conservative party is truly interested in a scientific briefing on climate change, they should call the University of Victoria and ask for any of a host of world-class experts – people who have conducted original research and published substantive papers in peer-reviewed journals during the past decade. (Victoria boasts four scientists who are leading authors of the coming report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.)

If the Tories just want an entertaining hour of cranky climate change skepticism, Tim Ball is the perfect choice.

Richard Littlemore

The letter was a response to this earlier missive from Ball (I regret the link has gone blank):

Re: “Victoria Conservatives invite climate change skeptic to town,” Sept. 20.

This is misleading. As a climatologist, I understand that climate is always changing. The question I and many others in the field are asking is how much, if any, of this is caused by the human emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas most curtailed by Kyoto in Canada.

Based on the absolute latest in modern science, the answer we are finding is “practically none.” A recent Ipsos Reid poll showed that 39 per cent of Canadians agree with us.

In the article NDP MP Denise Savoie asks, “Why not David Suzuki or the Sierra Club” be invited instead of myself? The answer is simple; they are not climatologists. The Conservatives have advised me that they seek facts and understanding, not rhetoric as they would get from unqualified activists.

I am quite prepared to speak to the Liberals or the NDP any time they wish.
Previously a Conservative, now Liberal MP Keith Martin says: “The Conservative party thinks that global warming is along the lines of the tooth fairy and Santa Claus.”

I might even put on a Santa Claus outfit to personally bring Martin up to date on the science of climate change if that would help him understand the issue better.

Tim Ball,

environmental consultant,

Victoria.