Sea Level Rise Archives | Elizabeth May

Statement – Climate Change

Craig Cantin — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:55:05 +0000

Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, we are on a collision course to global disaster with a dangerous disconnect between the political timetable and what science is warning us is a rapidly closing window to avoid runaway global warming. Scientists warn us that everything is speeding up from what they anticipated. Arctic ice is melting faster, permafrost is melting and sea levels are rising. At the same time, we are watching the glaciers in retreat while fires and droughts are on the rise.

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In Copenhagen, and again just last week in Doha, Canada committed to a process that will not take legal force until 2020. However, science warns us that if we do not ensure that greenhouse gas levels stop rising and begin to fall by 2015, not just here in Canada but also globally, it will be too late to take action.

The time is now to move from rhetoric to action and recommit to Kyoto, which in five days we will have legally exited.

Take action! Sign the petition at http://keepkyoto.ca.

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Question Period: The Environment

Craig Cantin — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:08:12 +0000

Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, despite a misleading report on Environment Canada’s site that uses per capita emissions, overall, the delegates at Doha heard Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have gone up again. The scientific advice is increasingly clear that the impacts of the climate crisis are coming faster than expected and are more severe than expected: arctic ice, permafrost, sea level rise.

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Given that all of these things are occurring faster than anticipated, when was the last time the Prime Minister was briefed on the scientific aspects of this crisis, and who briefed him?

Right Hon. Stephen Harper: Mr. Speaker, I am very surprised at this question from the leader of the Green Party.

Just last week on behalf of the government and the minister from Newfoundland and Labrador, we announced one of the most important green energy initiatives in the history of this country, an initiative supporting the Lower Churchill and related developments that will take 4.5 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions out of our system.

Yet the Green Party of Canada stood against it. On this side, we are for helping the environment and making sure there is energy security and prosperity—

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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Question No. 382

Craig Cantin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:18:08 +0000

Ms. Elizabeth May: With regard to the current and projected impacts of anthropogenic climatic change and disruption including, but not limited to, increasing water scarcity, forest fire frequency and severity, degradation of permafrost-dependent infrastructure, frequency of extreme weather events including floods and heat waves, sea level rise, and the spread of vector-borne diseases such as Lyme Disease, for each department, what are the detailed current and projected economic costs associated with adapting to the aforementioned effects over the short, medium, and long term?

Hon. Peter Kent: Mr. Speaker, there is no relevant program area within Environment Canada that may be in a position to provide relevant information and/or documents concerning the economic costs associated with anthropogenic climate change impacts.

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