Close X
Thursday, October 31, 2024
ADVT 
National

NDP Unveils Parts Of Climate Plan In Motion As The Green Party Edges Closer

The Canadian Press, 13 May, 2019 07:42 PM

    OTTAWA — NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will cut Canada’s emissions almost in half over the next decade as he tries to stake out a claim to the climate change agenda in the looming federal election.


    The pledge is one contained in an NDP motion expected today in the House of Commons that will lay out eight broad strokes of the NDP’s climate change platform. The motion asks for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare “an environment and climate emergency” as well as pledge to cut emissions more deeply, eliminate government aid to the fossil fuel industry and cancel the planned expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.


    “We want to reflect the urgency people are feeling,” Singh said in an interview with The Canadian Press.


    That urgency for him means a slow end to the Canadian oil sector, which Singh says is on its way out whether Canadians like the idea or not.


    “This is the direction the world is headed,” he said.


    The motion comes just one week after the Green Party earned a resounding victory in a Vancouver Island byelection which most political observers ­– Singh included – believe was a message from voters for politicians to start taking climate change more seriously.


    Singh however insists today’s motion is not an attempt to beat back Green support, which would affect both NDP and Liberal fortunes in the fall.


    In fact Singh insists whatever message voters were sending last week in Nanaimo-Ladysmith, it was to the governing Liberals, not the NDP, even though the NDP won the seat in 2015. The byelection was triggered when Sheila Malcolmson resigned after just three years as an MP to run provincially in British Columbia.


    The Green Party’s Paul Manly now represents the riding, only the second Green MP ever elected in Canada. The NDP finished a distant third and the Liberals an even more distant fourth.


    “When voters want to send a message it’s to people making the decisions,” he said. “It’s encouraging to see people sending a message on climate change.”


    Last October, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned drastic cuts to emissions are needed in the next decade to prevent global warming from becoming catastrophic. That report suggested Canada’s Paris climate change commitment, which would mean cutting annual greenhouse gas emissions by about 28 per cent compared to where they are now, is nowhere near enough.


    Singh won’t put a specific number on his targets yet but he agrees the motion is “subtly suggesting” the NDP would aim for the UN targets, which would mean Canada has to cut emissions almost in half by 2030.


    The Liberal government’s climate plan, including the carbon tax, getting rid of coal as a source of electricity and subsidizing the purchase of electric cars, still leaves Canada nearly 90 million tonnes shy of hitting the existing goal.


    To slash more deeply would require more drastic action in Canada’s energy sector. Oil and gas production and refining accounts for about one-quarter of all Canada’s emissions, but also more than six per cent of the economic activity and more than half a million direct and indirect jobs.


    New Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has warned of the separatist angst growing in Alberta as the energy sector has struggled in recent years, but Singh said the NDP would ensure there is a plan to transition Alberta workers to the new-age economy.


    “We need thousands and thousands of people to work to fight climate change,” he said.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    24-Year-Old Quebec Man Pleads Guilty To Killing 18-Year-Old Ex-Girlfriend

    A Quebec man accused of ambushing and killing his ex-girlfriend pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder and will serve an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 18 years.

    24-Year-Old Quebec Man Pleads Guilty To Killing 18-Year-Old Ex-Girlfriend

    Alberta Man Wins Appeal After Accidentally Shooting Girlfriend During Sex

    Alberta Man Wins Appeal After Accidentally Shooting Girlfriend During Sex
    EDMONTON — An Alberta man has won an appeal to serve his sentence in the community after he accidentally shot and injured his girlfriend during sex.

    Alberta Man Wins Appeal After Accidentally Shooting Girlfriend During Sex

    Alberta Premier Kenney Cleared After Questions Raised About MP Housing Expenses

    The Board of Internal Economy has found that Kenney did nothing wrong based on housing rules in place at the time.

    Alberta Premier Kenney Cleared After Questions Raised About MP Housing Expenses

    Landlord Who Refused To Rent To Muslim Men Settles Lawsuit

    Landlord Who Refused To Rent To Muslim Men Settles Lawsuit
    A Denver landlord who was recorded telling her tenant to find an "American person ... good like you and me" to sublease her property instead of a Muslim father and son seeking to open their second restaurant must pay the men $675,000 under a settlement.

    Landlord Who Refused To Rent To Muslim Men Settles Lawsuit

    Alberta Students Walk Out To Protest Expected Gay-Straight Alliance Changes

    CALGARY — Students across Alberta walked out of their classes today to protest expected changes to the province's rules for gay-straight alliances.    

    Alberta Students Walk Out To Protest Expected Gay-Straight Alliance Changes

    Knockin' On Shinzo Abe's Door: Japanese PM Shows Off Quirky Canadian Souvenir

    In a video posted Thursday to his official Instagram account, Shinzo Abe installs the folksy souvenir at the entrance of his lakeside villa outside Tokyo.

    Knockin' On Shinzo Abe's Door: Japanese PM Shows Off Quirky Canadian Souvenir