To the Editor:
It was a breath of fresh air to read that Wayne Stetski acknowledges we are in a climate emergency (op-ed “We’re in a climate emergency, let’s act like it” published in the Advance July 25). Like Stetski, I have also been hearing from people around the Kootenay-Columbia riding regarding the importance of raising this issue in the federal government and, most critically, the need to take immediate bold action. In fact, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has been calling for action on the climate emergency since she was elected to the House of Commons in 2011, and she co-authored a book in 2008 called Global Warming for Dummies.
While Stetski and I are both clear about the necessity of immediately addressing the climate emergency and the requirement to do this work across party lines, the best indicator of future actions is past actions. Although the NDP is now using the crucial language of “climate emergency” their continually flip-flopping position on LNG speaks much louder about their level of commitment to taking decisive action. The kind of policies the NDP are proposing would have made sense 15 years ago, but now in a real climate emergency, we need bold action, not incrementalism along with more fossil fuel development.
I will also take this opportunity to correct Mr. Stetski, who claimed that, “While the Green Party has put forward ambitious emission reduction targets, their plan does not include job retraining which is critical to getting buy-in from those in carbon-intensive industries.” Mission: Possible, the Green Party of Canada’s climate action plan, integrates the creation of new jobs among the key strategies for shifting our economy.
Mission: Possibles 20-step plan includes a national building retrofit that will create millions of new, well-paying jobs in the trades by retrofitting every building in Canada – residential, commercial, and institutional – to be carbon neutral by 2030. Turning off the tap to oil imports will encourage investment to turn Canadian solid bitumen into gas, diesel, propane and other products for the Canadian market, providing jobs in Alberta. And our proposal to create new partnerships for renewables will harness abandoned deep oil wells, wherever feasible, for geothermal energy, using workers who drilled the wells to manage the renewable energy generation. The Green Party will form partnerships with Indigenous peoples, providing economic opportunities by ramping up renewables on their lands.
The Green Party is clearly committed to shifting workers with transferable skills to well-paid jobs in the new green economy.
Lastly, I would like to point out that for many years the Green Party has been calling for a guaranteed livable income, or basic income, so that we can ensure income levels required for health, life, and dignity. This policy, while helping to eradicate poverty and income inequality, would also protect those who may experience employment insecurity during our shift to an environmentally and socially just economy. The well being of future generations is at stake. We shouldn’t expect to make this vital transition while somehow maintaining the status quo; if things need to change then we are going to have to change some things.
It’s important that we acknowledge – and act – like we are in a climate emergency. We are headed towards climate chaos; only the Greens have the plan to stop it.
Abra Brynne | Kootenay Columbia Green Party Candidate