MEDIA RELEASE
October 21, 2014
OTTAWA – Sierra Club Canada Foundation is calling on Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal to immediately ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on soybeans in light of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study that concludes the bee killing pesticides provide little or no benefit to soybean growers.
MEDIA RELEASE
October 14, 2014
K’JIPUKTUK (Halifax NS) - Save Our Seas and Shores Coalition is calling on the Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) to stop issuing license extensions (free or otherwise) to Corridor Resources for EL-1105 at Old Harry in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
Following up on the announcement made by the Innu, Maliseet and Mi’gmaq Alliance in Halifax last July, wherein First Nations called for a 12-year moratorium on offshore oil and gas development in the Gulf of St Lawrence, representatives from SOSS-NS, NB, PEI, QC and NL are meeting in Halifax this week to announce their support for the Alliance’s demand.
MEDIA RELEASE
October 7, 2014
OTTAWA – The Environment Commissioner’s audit documents Canada’s lack of action on climate change, preventing pollution from the Tar Sands and lack of preparation for increasing shipping in the Arctic.
“Canada is treading water on climate change, Tar Sands pollution and arctic shipping,” said Sierra Club’s John Bennett. “We need legislation, regulation and enforcement.”
The Environment Commissioner found Environment Canada is doing a reasonable job tracking Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, but is making little headway on reducing emissions or living up to Canada’s international commitments.
MEDIA RELEASE
September 23, 2014
Today religious and indigenous leaders urged President Obama and Prime Minister Harper to start negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty. Both nations need to work together to right historic wrongs and promote water stewardship in the face of climate change. The letter, signed by 14 religious leaders and 7 indigenous leaders representing nearly all Tribes and First Nations in the Columbia Basin, transmitted a Declaration on Ethics and modernizing the Columbia River Treaty as a foundation for international negotiations.
"Copycat regs that don't kick in for a decade is just more baffle gab from a do-nothing government," said John Bennett, National Program Director, Sierra Club Canada Foundation.
"Now, if Canada actually had regulations like what's coming in in the United States that would be great, and we'd say that," said Mr. Bennett. "But we don't actually have anything like that. We just have a fog machine of perpetual hollow announcements."
"If the federal government was serious about climate change they would be rolling out regulations for the oil and gas sector," concluded Mr. Bennett.
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For more information contact:
John Bennett, National Program Director, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, will be participating in the Peoples Climate March, Sunday, September 21st, in New York City.
Mr. Bennett stated he was going because: "I'm done waiting. 25 years of waiting is enough. We need action now!"
Mr. Bennett will be available to comment during and after the Peoples Climate March at: 613.291.6888
You can follow John on Twitter at: @John__Bennett
For more information:
OTTAWA – Sierra Club Canada Foundation supporters were disturbed to discover Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford is so uninterested he has shut down his Parliamentary email (greg.rickford@parl.gc.ca).
Sierra Club Canada Foundation initiated an email campaign in response to learning Mr. Rickford's briefing binder instructed him to push for expanding Canada’s oil industry and ignored climate change. In 2005, Natural Resources Canada was responsible for administering numerous climate change programs designed to assist Canadians in living up to our Kyoto Protocol commitments.
OTTAWA – This Monday, September 15, 2014, Joseph Boutilier, a 24-year-old from Victoria B.C., will be completing his five-month long cross-country unicycle ride to raise awareness about climate change in Canada.
Boutilier’s one-wheel ride (the “Unity for the Climate Tour”) began on April 5, 2014. So far, his unicycle tour has taken him through five provinces and three U.S. states.
His 5,000 km journey – aimed at making climate change a priority issue in the 2015 election -- will conclude at noon on Monday when Boutilier reaches Parliament Hill.
Joseph planned for his journey to end on the day Parliament resumed with the aim of meeting as many Members of Parliament as possible to discuss climate change policy.
Today, Nova Scotia’s Energy Minister Andrew Younger announced that his government will introduce legislation for a moratorium on fracking in the upcoming legislative session (see announcement here).
“This is a huge victory for citizens. The government has heard our call for real evidence of safety before proceeding with dangerous activities, like fracking,” said Gretchen Fitzgerald, Campaigns Director fro Sierra Club Canada Foundations’ Atlantic Canada Chapter.
MEDIA RELEASE
September 3, 2014
I have historic news. Today, we start to fight back.
This morning the Ontario Beekeepers launched a lawsuit against Bayer and Syngenta - the manufacturers of bee killing neonicotinoid pesticides.
These companies have raked in billions selling these pesticides in full knowledge of how lethal they are to bees.
So far we have looked to government and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency to enforce the law, but once I sat down with the head of the Agency and key staff in June it became clear to me that the PMRA is infused with inertia and has no sense of urgency.
