Happy first Sunday of the New Year!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? And if you do, do you keep them?

I came across this wonderful set of resolutions from legendary folksinger Woodie Guthrie. On January 1, 1943, he put pen to paper and made 33 promises to himself.  [Link]

He started with “Work more and better” and ended with “Wake up and fight.” In between are real gems: “Dont get lonesome, (sic) Stay glad and Wash teeth if any.” While “Help win war — beat fascism” is hard to beat, my favourite Woodie Guthrie 1943 resolution has to be “Keep hoping machine running.”

I promised last Sunday to share the New Year’s Resolutions that I would urge on the Trudeau administration.

1. To meet the challenge of the climate emergency, they must resolve to reject any new fossil fuel projects. That means that the December 2019 approval of offshore drilling by the State-owned enterprise of the Peoples Republic of China (CNOOC) 400 km east of Newfoundland and Labrador at Flemish Pass Basin will be the last fossil fuel project ever approved in Canada. [Link]

2. It would mean that in February, the proposed new (and enormous) Teck Frontier oil sands mine will be rejected. [Link]

3. It would mean that the decision to waste a further $10 billion on the TransMountain pipeline would be reversed. [Link]

4. It also requires banning fracking and any natural gas projects proposed with fracked gas.  This would immediately end the violation of indigenous rights on Wet’suwet’an territory over the Coastal Gaslink project. [Link]

The above resolutions are akin to the “Stop doing bad things” promises – like “Quit Smoking!”  The best resolutions are the positive ones – the ones like “exercise more” – “spend more time with loved ones!”

So the climate equivalents of these are:

5. Expand renewable energy!

6. Set aggressive targets to improve energy efficiency – and exceed them!

7. Plant trees.

8. Create community gardens.

9. Set up more EV chargers.

10. Install more solar panels.

11. Build up community projects and social cohesion.

12. Be much better prepared for the coming local climate emergencies.

And it is good to remind the Trudeau cabinet that social justice runs through any and all climate plans:

13. Deliver real action on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and on the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Some of these actions are clearly consistent with climate action.  The MMIW inquiry called for ending “man camps” such as the remote pipeline construction sites. And the need to provide efficient and affordable secure bus service also meets both agendas.

14. The resolutions list also includes following through on the Liberal promise of a Just Transition Act to provide security to workers.

15. The big one is to “wake up and fight.” Step up into global leadership by putting Canada firmly on the side of our young climate strikers.  Commit Canada early in 2020 to a science-based target to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. The Green Party target of 60% below 2005 levels by 2030 is do-able, but it will not be easy.  If you have not already looked at the details of Mission: Possible, please do!  (Download the research analysis pdf for deep details.)

In all of this, there is one resolution above all that we must all take on – every day!

Keep hoping machine running!

This is the time to resolve to work harder – or as Woodie Guthrie said it “work hard and better!”  This is when we must resolve that- despite the evidence of a history of political failure – 2020 is the year when we make the key decisions that preserve a healthy and livable biosphere.

We can do it if we believe we will. Keep hoping machine running. These are resolutions worth keeping!

Have a great week,

Love and thanks,

Elizabeth

This weekly blog is published by Elizabeth’s EDA in Saanich-Gulf Islands. You can sign up for it here.

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The list of measures is impressive: new standards for trucks and heavy-duty vehicles, investments in energy efficiency for both residential as well as institutional and commercial buildings, more renewable energy projects on federal lands, plans to invest in climate resilient infrastructure, adaptation planning to prepare for the extreme weather events we can no longer avoid, and most importantly, a commitment to regulate carbon from coal fired power plants.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper weakened Canada’s greenhouse gas target to the same 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 to which Obama committed the US. The difference is that the US has a plan and is on track to meet that target. Canada, with a patchwork of some strong provincial actions and nothing federally to regulate the oil sands, has no plan and is nowhere near on track for anything but failure.

Elizabeth May, O.C.
Member of Parliament
Saanich-Gulf Islands

Leader
Green Party of Canada

Published in the Globe and Mail.

The post Re: “Kerry refuses to be forced into early Keystone XL decision,” Paul Koring, January 18, 2014 appeared first on Elizabeth May.

In her letter, the Green Leader and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands emphasizes the need to diversify Canada’s energy portfolio while placing a price on carbon: “The key point is that, within the constraints of your own policies, action is needed now on climate and some portion of your budget should speak to the necessity of carbon pricing.  As well, the existing commitment to end subsidies to fossil fuels should be accelerated.”

Ms. May offered her suggestions to increase revenue and curb spending. Suggestions include:

• Fulfill commitments made at the G-20 and eliminate subsidies to fossil fuels. (+$1.2 billion)
• Cut the Prime Minister’s Office budget by 50% to levels of the Chrétien government. (+$5 million)
• Reduce government spending on advertising to 2005 levels. (+$90 million)
• Implement Estate taxes on estates exceeding $5 million. (+$1.5 billion/year)

Investment propositions include:

• Fund and expand the Eco-energy Retrofit programme. Expand it to include hospitals, schools and universities. ($1 billion)
• Invest in renewable energy and mass transit. ($1 billion)
• Invest in First Nations Education, housing, water and health care. ($1 billion)
• Establish a National Affordable Housing Program. ($834 million)
• Replenishment of the Sustainable Technology Development Fund, critical for Clean Tech.

A detailed summary of variations in revenue and spending, as well as deficit reductions, is included in the letter to Mr. Flaherty.

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Now that the Senate of Canada, the corporate lobby in the Council of Chief Executives, and the premiers are all willing to talk about the need for a national strategic energy vision, perhaps there is some hope that we can, at long last, have a plan. For years, Canada has been the only country in the OECD with no energy strategy. That failing has meant that, de facto, our energy strategy was whatever the oil patch wantedor more precisely what foreign owned energy multinationals decreed.

No wonder we still import foreign oil at world prices to half the country while shipping out Canadian oil at lower prices to the U.S. market. No wonder we have no climate plan, subsidize oil and gas, and have no carbon pricing (other than due to provincial action in British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec).

Nationally, despite the Prime Minister’s crowing about Canada being an “energy superpower,” we are establishing ourselves as a compliant resource colony for the United States and China.

Now that we are talking about having a national energy plan, what are those core principles that could form the beginning of a national consensus?

Let’s start with energy sovereignty. We should ensure that we control our own resources. Foreign state-owned corporate control over Canadian energy resources should be scrupulously vetted for national security and sovereignty risk. Such scrutiny is particularly important when the state-owned enterprises are attached to undemocratic regimes. China’s brand of Capitalistic Communism, with human rights repression and downward pressure on environmental regulations, requires particular review.

When we look at our energy future, a key goal should be to structure planning around demand-side management. We need to develop our energy planning with the goal of doing more with less. Canada’s built infrastructure, whether residential, business or institutional, is woefully wasteful and in need of retrofits. We are literally heating and cooling the outdoors. And energy policy should be about more than drilling and scraping out new supply. We need a strategy for wise use of resources.

Next, can we all agree that energy security makes sense? Should we not ensure that Canada has adequate energy resources for our own use before shipping exports overseas? The dependency of Eastern Canada on oil imports from Nigeria, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan makes no sense. Nova Scotia imports coal from Venezuela for its dirty electrical grid. To build energy self-sufficiency, we need to diversify and build capacity in renewable energy for the long-term.

Another principle that would take us out of the resource colony trap will be to ensure that we build “value-added” into our energy exports. Canadian crude should be processed and refined in Canada, at least in sufficient amounts for domestic markets, but for export as well. We have been allowing promising energy developments in renewable energy to be commercialized in other countries. We have export opportunities in value added in petroleum products and also in renewable energy that we are abandoning.

Another key element for a viable energy future is found in diversifying our energy portfolio. Canada has huge potential in renewable energy – wind, solar (both passive and photovoltaic), geothermal, district energy, small scale hydro, tidal and, where sustainable, biomass. So far, our energy conversation seems limited to fossil fuels.

A national energy plan must be designed to meet climate objectives. Any viable energy strategy must start by eliminating all subsidies to fossil fuels and placing a price on carbon. An energy strategy must set out a reasonable plan for capping and reducing greenhouse gases throughout the Canadian economy.

All of this is possible. The largest missing ingredient at the moment is federal leadership. Thus far, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has displayed no enthusiasm for any energy plan other than more than tripling oil sands production to six million barrels of oil a day. While B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford clash over Enbridge’s proposed risky pipeline and supertanker scheme to Kitimat, Harper is firmly on the side of one governmentthe one in Beijing.

If we are to have a national energy strategy, it has to start with an effort to build consensus. Ideally, it will provide a vision that advances the needs and aspirations of all parts of Canada. An energy plan should have at its core that it meets the needs of all of Canada while building our common wealth. That might just get everyone around the table.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May represents Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.
Originally published in the Hill Times.

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Seconded by Elizabeth May on February 1, 2012

Click here for the complete document.

The post Bill C-353 An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Income Tax Act (extra-energy-efficient products) appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Seconded by Elizabeth May on February 1, 2012

Click here for the complete document.

The post Bill C-340 An Act respecting a National Strategy to Encourage the Development of Renewable Energy Sources appeared first on Elizabeth May.