Editor:
The following is an edited version of a letter addressed to Prime Minister Mark Carney and shared with Coast Reporter.
Dear Prime Minister: I congratulate you on becoming Prime Minister of Canada.
Unlike Pierre Poilievre, you acknowledge that climate change is a critical issue. Your campaign statements, however, suggest that you do not appreciate the existential threat climate change poses.
Your cancellation of the consumer carbon tax probably helped get you elected. However, this tax was working and the tax refund meant most people got more money back than they paid. Without the tax it will be difficult for Canada to become carbon neutral.
More importantly, your declaration in Alberta, that you will make Canada an energy superpower by cutting emissions from fossil fuel production and increasing production, tells me you don’t give a fig about climate change.
Petro-states, like Canada, insisted that carbon emissions be charged against the states who burned fossil fuels, not the states who produced them. No one is fooled by this sleight of hand. Seventy-five per cent of the emissions from oil and gas come when it is burned.
Continuing to be a major producer of fossil fuels puts Canada front and centre among climate destroyers. The world has already exceeded the 1.5 C threshold for serious climate disruption and every day, through continued export of fossil fuels, through failure to remediate abandoned wells, we push the world further toward climate catastrophe.
Canada could be a clean energy superpower, a beacon to the world, but only if we take the actions needed to get there. As things stand, as we continue to flog fossil fuels, there is no reason for anyone to pay attention to what we say about climate change.
I look forward, Mr. Carney, to your plan to get us out of the fossil fuel business. Without this, talk by Canada about addressing climate change is just smoke and mirrors.
Sincerely,
Michael Healey
Professor Emeritus, UBC
Gibsons
How far does the boycott go?
Editor:
With President Trump’s endless braying about Canada as the 51st state and with his punishing tariffs against Canada, one burning question remains: should I continue to feed the flock of American goldfinches that frequent my garden feeders?
Doug Baker
Hopkins Landing
