TORONTO ? For actress Cynthia Dale, the climate crisis has her concerned for her son and future generations of her family.
She worries she may have a grandchild who will never know certain species she?s seen in her lifetime, or the salmon run.
For actor R.H. Thomson, it?s an issue he?s been passionate about since 1971, when he wore a gas mask while walking to class at the National Theatre School of Canada as a symbol to drivers ?that what was coming out of the pipes wasn?t very good.?
The two are among more than 40 celebrities volunteering their time and services to the newly formed Artists for Real Climate Action (ARCA), a grassroots, non-partisan campaign aimed at pushing politicians to make climate change the No. 1 issue of the fall election in Canada. Through a series of online public service announcements, events and the website http://www.thisisnotadrill.ca, the group is also encouraging Canadians to let their candidates know that if they don?t have a real plan for climate action, they don?t have their vote.

?Every year there are species going extinct, and I think: How will I be able to look my grandchild in the face" How can I look at my son and say, ?I didn?t do anything,? or ?Oops, I was busy? or ?I didn?t know what I could do,?? Dale, who appears in one of the PSAs, said in a recent phone interview.
?I just think it?s your responsibility to figure out what you can do and to sound the alarms. And it?s not being alarmist. I don?t feel like any of us are being ...