2020 is too long to wait for climate ambition

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Published on Thursday, 06 December 2018 08:14

Written by editor

With an election in 2019, we need a plan, and we need it now.

Friends,

Yesterday, Catherine Mckenna – Canada’s Environment Minister – announced that by 2020, Canada would have a new, more ambitious climate target. This is good news, especially since McKenna and Justin Trudeau have been using Stephen Harper’s ridiculously weak targets up until now.

We can’t afford to wait until 2020 for our governments to put forward a bold plan for tackling climate change. With an election in 2019, we need a plan, and we need it now.

That’s why, this Friday, we’ll be delivering the call for a Good Work Guarantee to the... First Ministers Meeting in Montreal. If you haven’t heard about it yet, the Good Work Guarantee is a sort-of “Green New Deal” for Canada that is based on three main principles:

1. A guaranteed good job for workers impacted by the necessary transition off of fossil fuels.
2. An end to fossil fuel expansion and a time-based phase out of fossil fuels in line with what’s been outlined by scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent report on limiting warming to 1.5ºC.
3. That Canada implement this plan in full partnership with Indigenous Peoples.

Click here to sign the petition for a Good Work Guarantee.

Yesterday’s announcement sounded a lot like Catherine McKenna telling us that we’ll only get increased climate ambition after the next election, but I know that we can’t wait that long.

Last week I joined young people in Ottawa taking part in a sit-in at Catherine McKenna’s office, while others in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver did the same. We took action because of the urgency of climate change, and to call for a vision we all share: a rapid and equitable transition to a 100% renewable energy economy that works for all of us.

To get there, we need a new kind of climate plan, one that actually meets the scale of the climate crisis, takes care of workers and families and protects Indigenous rights. Add your name now to the call for a Good Work Guarantee.

Onwards,

Katie

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