Fill the Hill - International Day of Climate Action

Welcome everyone to Fill the Hill!  My name is Stephen Hazell and I am the Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada.

I want to especially welcome participants in power shift 2009, who have come from across Canada to join in the international day for climate action.

Bienvenue tout le monde à la Colline du parliament pour la jour international d’action sur le climat.

En particulier, je souhaite la bienvenue aux participants du Power Shift Canada qui sont venues de tous les provinces de Canada.

Let me say how honoured I am to be here and how delighted I am that organizers of the International Day of Climate Action at 350.org and Power Shift Canada were able to coordinate their efforts to make this day happen.

And what is so special about today?  Today, all around the world, in more than 170 nations, people are coming together through rallies, events, and demonstrations to demand that leaders take decisive action to save the planet.

In December, the world will meet in Copenhagen to negotiate a climate change deal that will profoundly shape our future.  It is imperative that a strong, robust agreement is reached.

I understand that the Power Shift conference taking place in Ottawa this weekend is the largest ever Canadian youth event on the environment with over 1000 young people.

How many of you here today are with Power Shift?
 
I also understand that on Monday the 26th, “honourable” MPs and senators will be asked to sign on to the Power Shift principles and federal party leaders will be asked to publicly sign on to these principles at a national press conference.

I want to congratulate Canada’s youth who are taking up the challenge of stopping climate change.  If only our parliamentarians could show the same level of leadership.

Here we are on Parliament Hill.  Inside this building behind me our honourable MPs and senators act on behalf of Canadians.

One of those men—the Right Honorable Stephen Harper is supposed to provide the most leadership and represent Canada honourably on the world stage. 

But over the past two decades, neither Mr. Harper – nor his Right Honourable predecessors Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell – have distinguished themselves and shown leadership in fighting climate change.

I can say this with some authority.  Over 20 years ago in April 1989, Aboriginal and environmental leaders, including myself, met with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to convince him that climate change was a global problem and Canada needed to act.  He didn’t take any serious action and neither has any prime minister since.

Un nouveau traité concernant le climat sera négocié durant les pourparlers internationaux sur le climat à Copenhague, au Danemark, du 7 au 18 décembre 2009.

Le Canada ressort maintenant comme étant un des derniers pays industrialisés opposés aux cibles pour de profondes réductions en émissions de gaz à effet de serre.

Vraiment, le Canada est un pays qui a fait beaucoup pour bloquer les négociations.

Dans le cadres des négociations international, il faut que le Canada affirme immédiatement en s’engageant a réduire de 25 pour cent les émissions par rapport au niveau de 1990 de charbon d’ici a 2020 et de 80 pour cent d’ici a 2050.  

Twice, in Bali 2007 and in Bonn in 2008, Canada has been voted the Colossal Fossil in blocking global climate negotiations.  Canada has the worst record among the developed countries for taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  In fact, our emissions have dramatically increased since Canada first signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

Canada also has the unfortunate distinction of having other countries walk out just as Canada’s representatives spoke at an international climate meeting in Bangkok just a few weeks ago.  Shame on the current government for reducing Canada’s reputation on this issue to mud.

I recently met with senior officials from India and Bangladesh.  These countries have already experienced the impacts of climate change.  Record high temperatures exceeding 40 degrees in New Delhi and record torrential downpours and floods in Mumbai.  A rising sea level of 1 metre would mean that 40 per cent of the land area of Bangladesh would be under water.

Canada’s unwillingness to take responsibility for our huge per capita emissions is incomprehensible to these south Asians.  While Bangladeshis emit less than one tonne per capita, and Indians slightly more than one tonne per capita, Canadians emit 24 tonnes per capita.

What should our parliamentarians be doing?

First, Stephen Harper and Environment Minister Jim Prentice need to wake up to the fact that Canadians – that we here today – are demanding that Canada get serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the board from our homes, our cars, our industries and our tar sands.

Second, parliamentarians should adopt the Power Shift principles adopted by the Canadian youth climate movement.

What are these principles?

♦ immediately reduce carbon emissions
♦ invest in clean and renewable energy
♦ create effective green jobs
♦ demonstrate a commitment to environmental justice
♦ manage a sustainable and clean economy
♦ be a leader again at the UN climate negotiations this December in Copenhagen

Jeunes canadiens et canadiennes faisons maintenant appel au gouvernement fédéral pour demander qu’un projet de loi complet, adressant les changements climatiques de façon compréhensive, soit adopté au cours de l’année 2009-2010.

Ce projet devra respecter les principes suivants :

♦ réduire immédiatement les émissions de co2
♦ investir dans la production d’énergie propre et renouvelable
♦ création efficace d’emplois verts
♦ s’engager à assurer la justice environnementale
♦ s’engager à gérer une économie propre et soutenable
♦ en décembre 2009, mener le canada afin que nous fassions notre part pour établir et ratifier une entente mondiale forte et progressiste sur les changements climatiques.

How can we deliver on these principles?

First, we need a strong climate action plan. 

Second, parliament needs to move quickly to pass Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act before Copenhagen.

Bill C-311 will for the first time entrench in law commitments by Canada to the deep cuts in GHG emissions that scientists tell us are needed to avert catastrophic climate change.

For those of you who are not participating in lobby day on Monday please write, email or call your honourable MP or honourable senator and tell them to:
♦ support the Power Shift principles
♦ commit to the deep GHG emission reduction targets included set out in bill c-311
♦ take a constructive attitude to the negotiations in Copenhagen
♦ support a green economy through energy efficiency measures and support for renewable energy sources

Canada’s honour among the nations of the world, not to mention our ecosystems, are at stake.

We cannot stand by and allow a warming climate to unleash drought, famine, storms, floods, burning forests and rising sea levels. 

Scientists tell us that human-caused climate change is already causing serious harm. But in the end, my generation will not have to address the most devastating effects.  Stephen Harper, Jim Prentice and I will be long gone. 

You, the youth of today, will bear the brunt.  

I have a daughter and a son who are roughly the age of Power Shift youth.   They are two principal reasons why I am still here in Ottawa trying to convince the “right honourable” prime minister and his “honourable” colleagues to start to build a green economy.

I want to give my kids a better, more hopeful world in which they can raise their children.

This is my generation’s opportunity to give them that world. It may be our last chance. 

But if we seize this moment, if we work together across the generations, we can ensure that this biosphere remains a place that can support healthy and prosperous human communities.

As Tommy Douglas said:

“Courage my friends. It is not too late to build a better world.”          

Finalement, je vous remercie pour votre presence ici.   Ne laches pas vos efforts d’ici a Decembre afin d’assurer que le gouvernement de Canada represente de facon honorable a Copenhague.