MPs asked to update climate policies
Peter Smith says Canada needs an approach to climate change all political parties can agree with.
Smith, a retired Sarnia engineer who was the local Green party candidate in 2015, joined a national campaign by the Council of Canadians and 350.org Wednesday by delivering a letter to the office of Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia-Lambton).
It asks MPs to support updating Canada’s climate policies in response to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Smith was joined by Kevin Shaw, the local Green Party candidate in the latest provincial election, in dropping off the letter along with a copy of panel’s report.
The body of international scientists convened by the United Nations warns the world has only a dozen years to avoid a rise in the Earth’s temperature that could lead to devastating effects that include loss of tropical coral reefs and rising sea levels from melting polar ice.
“We need to act on this straight away,” Smith said.
“What we’re asking Marilyn to do is become a champion for the environment, to help set up a program that all parties can agree to, and one that will help us move forward in a more consistent way than we’ve been doing in the past.” Smith said that Ontario is an example of what happens when partisanship takes over.
The former Liberal government at Queen’s Park created a carbon cap and trade program that was
We can’t afford to be going off in one direction and then going off in the other every time we elect a new government.
“trash-talked” by the opposition and “undone” when the Conservatives came to power, Smith said. “We need to make this a nonpartisan issue,” he said. “It’s bigger than party politics.” Canada needs a plan that can last for several decades, Smith said. “We can’t afford to be going off in one direction and then going off in the other direction every time we elect a new government.”
The Liberal government in Ottawa said this week a federal carbon tax will begin in January at $20 per tonne and rise by $10 per year in Ontario and other provinces without their own carbon pricing system. It also said it will pay out rebates Environment and Climate Change Canada estimates will see a family of four in Ontario receive around $307 per year in 2019, rising as high as $719 in 2022. The government said the rebate to most families will be higher than their annual carbon tax payments. But, Gladu said Wednesday the federal carbon tax is “a cash grab for the government” that will “do nothing to help the planet.” Canada is responsible for less than two per cent of the world’s carbon footprint, she said.
“If we really want to address this problem urgently we as Canadians who are leaders in this field have technology we have to leverage to those who are the major contributors, like China, India, the U.S. and Europe.”
They’re responsible for 60 per cent of the planet’s carbon footprint, Gladu said.
“It’s a global problem that needs a global solution, and I’m definitely committed to making sure Canada is a leader and that we help the rest of the world as we address this issue.”
Gladu added she is already a champion of the issue within the Conservative Party, serving on its climate change caucus advising the party on its platform for the upcoming election.