Last week, I visited my MP Murray Rankin’s office to deliver the new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s most authoritative voice on climate science. I also called on my MP to champion legislation that aligns Canada’s climate policies with the urgency of this report, which clearly states that we have 12 years to prevent global warming beyond 1.5 degrees and avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change.
The report said, in no uncertain terms, that in this time frame we need to transition off of fossil fuels to a 100 per cent renewable energy economy. In concrete terms, this means we must stop approving and expanding massive fossil fuel projects like the TransMountain and Line 3 pipelines, take concrete steps to build a 100 per cent renewable energy economy and we must do it in a way that respects Indigenous rights and leave no worker behind.
I am pleased to say that Murray Rankin listened to me and the many other constituents who came to his office. He put forward a strong motion in Parliament calling on the government to recognize the severity of the risks we face – limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5 C requires rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in Canada and to ensure that Canada’s laws are in harmony with the recommendations outlined in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report.
I am looking for that kind of leadership to be shown by all our politicians and this will be the most important consideration for me, as it should be for all of us, as we head for the ballot box in 2019.
Alice Whitehead
Victoria