The recent global climate strike, led by activist Greta Thunberg, highlighted the fact that concern about climate change is entering mainstream politics, says Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
In a news release Monday, May said the traditional parties are scrambling to incorporate the environment into their campaigns, but their promises fall well short of the action required to avert a catastrophe.
“They are scrambling to catch up, but none of them has a plan that gets us where we need to be to preserve a livable biosphere,” May is quoted as saying in the release.
“Canadians are looking for the party that tells them the truth about what we need to do to avoid climate catastrophe. That party is the Green Party.”
On Monday, the Green Party’s shadow cabinet climate caucus released the party's background research supporting Mission: Possible, released last May, showing how Canada can achieve a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach zero emissions by 2050.
Read the full text of the release:
From Sept. 20 to 27, more than a million Canadians joined the global Climate Strike, inspired by teenage activist Greta Thunberg to demand real action on the climate emergency. Climate change is not just another ballot box issue any more and the old-line parties are finally taking notice.
“The Oct. 21 federal election is now a referendum on the climate emergency,” said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. “Canadians are looking for the party that tells them the truth about what we need to do to avoid climate catastrophe. That party is the Green Party.”
Ms. May said that overwhelming public support for the Climate Strike had prompted a quick response from the other parties. “They are scrambling to catch up but none of them has a plan that gets us where we need to be to preserve a livable biosphere.”
The Green Party’s Mission: Possible climate action plan is in synch with the demands of the climate strikers, its emissions targets are in line with recommendations of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and it is the only plan built on an unwavering commitment to eliminating fossil fuels, including LNG and fracked gas pipelines.
“It’s encouraging to see the other party leaders finally taking notice,” said Ms. May, “but one of them ignores climate science completely, one bought a pipeline and a third supports the LNG Canada megaproject, climate destroying fracked gas infrastructure on a massive scale,” said Ms. May.
“Are the Trudeau and Singh climate proposals better than Scheer’s – of course, but they’re still not nearly ambitious enough.”
Mission: Possible analysis shows pathway to the Paris emissions target
The Green Party’s shadow cabinet climate caucus today released the party's background research supporting Mission: Possible released last May, showing how Canada can achieve a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach zero emissions by 2050.
“It is detailed and complex, but this technical work with references to other external sources supports the ambition of Mission:Possible,” said climate caucus member and party finance critic John Kidder (candidate for Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon). “It is the homework our youth wants to read."
The analysis outlines the path to meeting these targets, based on:
- Immediate and drastic reductions in fossil fuel production.
- Reductions in energy consumption across all sectors.
- Immediate and substantial investment in renewable energy production and distribution.
- Significant reforestation and afforestation.
During and after this transition, “Canada will have an improved economy, an expanded workforce, a low-cost energy system based on abundance instead of scarcity, industrial output at higher efficiency and lower costs, and lower costs of living for householders,” the report says.
“Our analysis shows that the measures we are proposing are not only possible, they actually create the pathway to a more just, stable and prosperous nation,” said Ms. May. “The Green Party knows this, the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who marched know this, the only ones who still don’t get it are the other parties, who continue to argue about what’s politically possible rather than doing what’s environmentally essential.”
The Mission: Possible analysis is available on the Green Party of Canada's website.
