The Peterborough Examiner

Monsef responds to local climate change activists

MP defends federal government’s record on green energy, carbon tax during meeting with Peterborou­gh Alliance for Climate Action members

- JOELLE KOVACH Examiner Staff Writer

Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef said her government has been working on dozens of green projects, in addition to a proposed carbon tax, that together are “quite powerful” in the fight against climate change — an assertion that didn’t satisfy a group of citizens who said her government isn’t doing nearly enough to try to save the planet.

In a written letter to the Peterborou­gh-Kawartha MP outlining their demands, Peterborou­gh Alliance for Climate Action said they want the federal government to charge a much heavier carbon tax on polluters — and they want it to happen now.

“We have 10 years before runaway climate change that’s beyond our control,” said Al Slavin, a retired physics professor from Trent University, to Monsef at a gathering of about 50 concerned people at her constituen­cy office on Monday.

“Your government isn’t doing enough to stave off the catastroph­e,” Slavin said.

The crowd squeezed into Peterborou­gh-Kawartha MP Monsef’s office on Monday were there to hear her response to a set of demands they’d made in writing, 17 days earlier.

On Oct. 26, the same people rallied outside the office and presented her staff with a letter outlining how they’d like a heavier carbon tax for polluters and no more subsidies for the oilsands — instead, they want those subsidies to go to green energy initiative­s.

Monsef wasn’t there on Oct. 26: she was in Ottawa, and her staff promised she would have a response for them within three weeks.

That response came Monday, when she invited them back to hear what she had to say.

Monsef started by thanking those in the room, many of whom have been her supporters.

“It is a gift for me to have been mentored by so many of you — especially the Slavins,” she said, meaning Al and his wife Linda, an activist.

The federal government is taking steps to invest in clean energy — and she also said jobs will be created in that sector, Monsef said.

The federal government has initiated other projects as well, she said, such as the cleanup of the Great Lakes and the purchase of hybrid transit vehicles for the GTA.

But Monsef was interrupte­d as she read a long list of theses green projects; rally organizer Peter Morgan said it didn’t “address any of our concerns.”

Monsef said she had three more pages of “facts” to go over, but that “if people aren’t open to the facts … then we’re not on the same page.”

Morgan urged her to tell the crowd whether she would commit to pushing for a heavier carbon tax.

Monsef replied that she’d bring the group’s demands to Environmen­t and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna and to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

A further meeting between Monsef and the group is expected sometime in mid-January, after the proposed new carbon tax goes into effect Jan. 1.

The meeting will likely be held in a larger space, Monsef said. No location or date has been confirmed yet.

 ?? JASON BAIN EXAMINER ?? Peterborou­gh-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef speaks to members of the Peterborou­gh Alliance for Climate Action at her constituen­cy office on Bethune Street on Monday. She responded to a letter the group delivered during an Oct. 26 rally.
JASON BAIN EXAMINER Peterborou­gh-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef speaks to members of the Peterborou­gh Alliance for Climate Action at her constituen­cy office on Bethune Street on Monday. She responded to a letter the group delivered during an Oct. 26 rally.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada