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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
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Paov,
The fossil fuel industry has been lying to the public for decades, but their shamelessness never ceases to shock me.
Last week, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation revealed that Imperial Oil kept them in the dark for over 9 months as contaminated water from its Kearl tar sands mine seeped into lands where band members harvest food.1 This is just the latest outrage in the fossil fuel industry’s long history of lies, environmental racism, and human rights violations.
That’s why the litmus test for climate policy in Canada is simple: does Big Oil have a seat at the table? If they do, we can be sure that profits will come before people and the climate crisis will only worsen. But we can fight back against their lies and deceit.
We recently published a blog post that puts the Trudeau government’s new Sustainable Jobs Plan to this test. Could you take a few minutes to read it, then share it to help us spread the word?
The fossil fuel industry’s oversized influence on Canadian politics is the biggest obstacle to a just transition, so all of us who see through Big Oil’s lies have a responsibility to... speak up in this crucial moment.
Just yesterday, CBC Radio's The Current gave Cenvous CEO Alex Pourbaix nearly 20 minutes of airtime to spout lies about the climate crisis. He trotted out the well worn talking points of climate delay, claiming that transitioning to clean energy too fast would be "a tragedy of global proportions" and overstating carbon capture’s potential to justify recklessly expanding oil and gas production.2
We can’t let Big Oil sabotage the Sustainable Jobs Plan. They’re lobbying hard right now for billions in new subsidies for carbon capture projects, even though they refuse to invest their own record profits in this last-ditch greenwashing scheme.3
I know how devastating it is to see fossil fuel companies' lies and deceit go unchallenged by our governments and the media, but I also know that together, we can push back and build a groundswell of support for the fossil free future we all deserve.
Onwards,
Amara
PS – If you haven’t taken action yet to demand a just transition that puts people first, not Big Oil’s profits, don’t forget to sign the petition, contact your MP, and send a letter to the editor.
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