Real Deal Vigil, Nelson BC
It was a very cold evening in Nelson, BC (Canada) on Dec. 12, but despite the weather 300+ residents created a candle light spiral, a symbol of solidarity with peoples most imminently threatened by climate change. Women’s choir Shenango opened the event, followed by speakers Hillary Vipond of the West Kootenay Ecosociety, MLA Michelle Mungall, and journalist/author Mark Nykanen. MP Alex Atamanenko wasn’t able to attend but sent a message that was read by two high school students.
The message was loud and clear: The people of Nelson demand that our federal government engage with the rest of the world, most especially the island & have-not nations, in genuine efforts to address climate change! We’ve had enough of PM Harper soiling Canada’s name in favour of tar sands profit!
Here is Alex Atamanenko’s message to the event:
Dear Friends,
Thank you for inviting me to participate in this candlelight vigil in support of a fair and binding global climate treaty in Copenhagen.
I regret that I am unable to be here with you today due to a prior commitment. However, I appreciate being given this opportunity to share my thoughts and some of the concrete measures that my Party has been undertaking during this very important time in our global history.
Jack Layton, along with the NDP Environment critic, Linda Duncan, are presently in Copenhagen to monitor the discussion. While there, Jack is planning to meet with representatives from different countries to discuss green energy initiatives. Linda Duncan has advised me that she will be writing a daily blog and providing regular updates on how the discussions are proceeding. You can follow these at www.climatecountdown.ca/
In my view, it is a profound disgrace that Canada is being seen on the world stage as one of the major countries obstructing progress on climate change.
So, what can we do? Obviously, we need to get the message across to the federal government that there is another way. There is a clear future in providing jobs through sustainable energy initiatives. It is just as clear that there can be no future for anyone if countries like Canada continue to pursue policies designed to maintain the status quo.
One major step is to apply enough pressure on all the Parties to ensure that Bill C-311, the NDP’s Climate Change Accountability Act passes. Despite our best efforts to have C-311 passed before Copenhagen the Liberals voted with the Conservatives to send it back to Committee for further study. This was totally unnecessary as there had already been exhaustive studies by the previous parliament. C-311 was returned to the House on December 8th without amendments.
Our party has been building support for this legislation for 4 years and now we are one step closer to setting hard emission targets for Canada. A final vote on C-311 is expected in the New Year and if passed will commit the federal government to achieving science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets. This law will make it accountable to Parliament through regular reports on what actions have been taken to meet the specified targets. The long-term target will be set to a level that is 80% below the 1990 level by the year 2050, with a medium-target set to a level that is 25% below the 1990 level by 2020.
According to Linda Duncan, it is extremely important to get the Liberals on board for this bill to pass. They supported this legislation under Stefan Dion’s leadership in the last Parliament but now that they have a new leader who seems more closely tied to Bay Street we cannot assume anything.
We need many loud voices working together so the government gets the message loud and clear that we expect Canada to become a major force for action on climate change and not another recipient of fossil awards.
Tags: climate change, greenhouse gas