Editor:
This letter was submitted to Patrick Weiler, member of Parliament for the Sunshine Coast, and federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
The new Liberal government was elected on the promise that climate action would be its top priority. If it is serious about this, then there is no way it can justify approving the proposed Frontier mine that is currently being promoted by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. That would be the largest and most devastating open pit mine in the history of Canada’s oil sands. As such, it would be Canada’s worst-ever assault on the environment.
Secondly, I urge our new government to stop immediately the insane practice of subsidizing the oil and gas industry. That industry in Canada currently produces more carbon pollution than the combined output of all Canada’s vehicles and airplanes. How is it possible that our governments, with one hand, are collecting taxes from consumers as a penalty for polluting and then, with the other hand, are paying the fossil fuel companies billions of dollars as a reward for polluting? There’s simply no justification for this, and I urge our government to finally put an end to those subsidies.
As everybody knows, the climate crisis is not an issue for the future; it is happening right now – melting of the polar ice caps, extreme weather events, horrific examples of drought and famine, etc. The next example will be vast numbers of climate refugees arriving at our borders. What will our country and other western countries say to those refugees if we, as the creators of this crisis, are doing very little to stop it?
I pray that our new government will demonstrate its commitment to climate action by supporting these two positions.
Robert O’Neill, Roberts Creek
