MEDIA RELEASE: Over 50 Citizens Across Canada to Lobby for a Liveable World on Parliament Hill October 13-16

Over 50 Citizens From Across Canada to Lobby for a Liveable World on Parliament Hill October 13-16

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 25, 2018
Media Contact: Cathy Orlando, cathy@citizensclimatelobby.org

Sudbury ON: We are in a race against time. On September 18, the UN chief said that the world has less than 2 years to avoid ‘runaway climate change’. 

The scientific proof of the threat of climate change is incontrovertible and cannot be dismissed. We must cut emissions. Almost all economists agree that putting a price on carbon pollution is the most economically efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“The climate crisis is a global emergency but it is also solvable. Recently, the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate determined that acting on the climate crisis will deliver a $26-trillion boost to the world’s economy by 2030 and that carbon pricing and fossil fuel subsidy reform are two key policies the world needs,” says Cathy Orlando, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada’s National Director. “All of us, all politicians and all people, need to do more to help the world avert disaster. That is why over 50 citizens are going to Ottawa October 13-16, 2018: to create the political will for a liveable world.”

Many Canadians may not be aware that in their historic March 2018 report, Perspectives on Climate Change Action in Canada—A Collaborative Report from Auditors General, Canada’s Auditors General concluded that Canada is not on track to meet its greenhouse gas emission targets.

Realistically, transforming the economy will not happen overnight. Julie Gelfand, Canada’s Environment Commissioner, said that Canada needs time to “bend the curve”. Importantly, carbon pricing is projected to account for more than half of Canada’s prospective total emissions reductions through 2022. The Pembina Institute calls carbon pricing an essential component of a cost-effective climate plan. According to the World Bank Carbon Pricing Dashboard, 25 percent of the world’s nations, including China, are already pricing carbon.

Over 50 citizen lobbyists from Halifax to Vancouver will be sharing the latest climate and carbon pricing data with their MPs and will be asking parliamentarians for the following improvements to Canada’s climate policies:

1. That the carbon fee be applied upstream, at the wellhead, coal mine, or point of entry into the economy; that the policy covers all GHG emissions, and include best practices for estimating fugitive methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
2. That the national carbon price continues to rise past 2022, with the objective of Canada exceeding its Paris targets and becoming a world leader in tackling the climate crisis and in the clean technology industry.
3. That the Federal government work with provinces and territories to ensure their carbon pricing policies keep pace with the rising federal minimum carbon price without imposing any additional burden on low to middle-income Canadians. In this regard, the federal government should lead by example, implementing a revenue-neutral fee and dividend system as its backstop carbon pricing policy.
4. That Canada’s Output-Based Carbon Pricing be temporary and be replaced with Border Carbon Adjustments to level the playing field for emissions-intensive trade-exposed domestic industries that compete in international jurisdictions without a comparable carbon price.
5.  That the Federal government ends financial subsidies to fossil fuel companies, as promised in the 2015 election, thereby ensuring that consistent policy is applied to the process of combating climate change.

Last week, Clean Prosperity released a study which found that the federal carbon pricing policy will save the vast majority of Canadians money. If this scenario plays out, in five years the net benefit per household in the $60,000-$80,000 bracket would be $328 in Ontario, $1,231 in Alberta and $1,711 in Saskatchewan. Mark Cameron, the Executive Director of Clean Prosperity is one of the keynote speakers at the conference. Other keynote speakers include:

• Dale Beguin, Executive Director of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission
• Dr. David Maenz, author of “The Price of Carbon”
• Kim Perotta, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
• Excitingly, singer and story teller Angie Nussey is the conference musician

In addition to conference and lobbying, the group will be displaying over two dozen Parachutes for the Planet on Parliament Hill on Monday, October 15, 2018. Parachutes are a metaphor for a soft landing for a healthy and safe future for today’s youth.  The conference’s theme is “building bridges” because climate change is a serious and non-partisan issue that will require policy persistence through multiple election cycles. The Parachutes for the Planet display will show Parliamentarians that people across the country care deeply about solving the climate crisis.

The Parachutes for the Planet display is a cross-border sister event. That same weekend, over 200 Parachutes from six continents, 30 countries, and 28 states will be on display in a Georgetown Waterfront Park, Washington, DC, Saturday, October 13 from 11 am – 4 pm organized by The Mother Earth Project.

This beautiful parachute is from Lanark County – the maple syrup capital of Canada.

“Our solution to climate change is democracy. Since 2010, we have been lobbying our MPs for carbon fee and dividend. Our volunteers have documented hundreds of lobbying appointments and thousands of letters to parliamentarians. Politicians are supposed to protect us and create jobs. We are going to help them do their job,” says Orlando.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada’s 5th annual national conference will take place next month in Ottawa, Ontario, from Saturday, Oct. 13 to Tuesday, Oct. 16. Registration closes October 1.

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