If the world were an ocean liner bearing down on the melting iceberg known as climate change, there would be no shortage of people standing on the bow, waving their arms frantically in a desperate attempt to get someone’s attention.

Who would have thought the most persuasive among them would be Al Gore?

The former U.S. vice-president’s conversion from wooden politician to inspired eco-warrior brought him to Canada on Wednesday to promote his popular Oscar-nominated climate change documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” to sold-out audiences in Montreal and Toronto.

Activists who have served for decades in the trenches of Canada’s environmental movement welcomed the events, crediting Gore’s newfound celebrity status with helping to silence naysayers in Canada and bringing badly needed credibility to the science of global warming.

“I think Gore, the whole Gore phenomenon, has really put the issue over the top in Canada,” said Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada.

“Prior to Al Gore’s movie, the deniers were still in full howl. ... He has given the claim that this is a serious issue a lot more credibility.”

While the federal government has gone to great lengths of late to cast itself as concerned about green issues, Prime Minister Stephen Harper faces opposition rivals determined to ensure Canada honours its commitments to reduce greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol.

“It’s awfully important for Canada to live up to its reputation,” Gore said before entering the Toronto event, but he also conceded it’s “hard for me to say because my country is doing the worst job of anybody.”

During his address in Montreal, Gore said Quebecers can help the environment with the choices they make in the March 26 provincial election.

Just how did Gore, a self-described recovering politician, become an activist-celebrity capable of generating the kind of demand that crashed the University of Toronto’s website when tickets went on sale two weeks ago?

“We can speculate as to whether he helped make climate change the No. 1 issue in this country ... or whether he just happened to be there at the right time,” said public relations guru Bernie Gauthier of Delta Media.

What is clear, said Gauthier, is that “people are excited, they’re drawn to him, there’s a buzz around Al Gore, which is a rare commodity.”

Gore’s ability to draw audiences to a crisis that the former politician, along with scientists and academics, has been trying to open eyes to for decades was hailed by University of Toronto professor Danny Harvey.

“We’ve got to keep the pressure on,” said Harvey, who has lectured on the subject of global warming for 15 years.

He likens humanity’s rush toward economic prosperity, at the expense of the environment, to that of the ill-fated Titanic steaming across the Atlantic, at full speed, despite iceberg warnings.

“What Al Gore’s show is is someone sighting the iceberg (and saying), ‘Hey, there’s an iceberg there, it really is there, and we’re on a collision course,’ ” Harvey said. “It has sensitized people but the point to emphasize is, the science has been clear for 30 years.”

Framing the climate-change message within the documentary film format, which is currently enjoying a renaissance of sorts in North America, goes a long way to explaining the Gore phenomenon, Gauthier said.

The former politician’s reputation as being a rather dull sort didn’t hurt either.

“It was easy for people to be pleasantly surprised by the fact that, hey, look, he’s quite entertaining in this film, he’s quite dynamic and seems passionate about this issue,” Gauthier said.

Gore’s star power was also welcomed by Anne Mitchell, executive director of the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy.

“We’ve got to take what we can,” Mitchell said.

Gore’s involvement brings new credibility to the environmental movement, Mitchell said — so much so, in fact, that people dismissed 10 years ago as being “out to lunch” for sounding the alarm on climate change are now finally being taken seriously.

“Maybe it will be a learning situation. Maybe in future we’ll actually pay attention before it becomes such a crisis issue.”

Hazell noted that Canadians are also among those who have taken up Gore’s call to present his climate-change slide show themselves. A number of people from north of the border have travelled to the U.S. to attend a two-day training seminar on how to do just that, he said.

“I think Gore came at a time when North American civilization was in a learning moment,” Hazell said. “Up until a year or two ago, most North Americans weren’t really tuned into it.”

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc.

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