Canadian climate woes are inextricably linked to a crisis in our democratic system and cannot be ignored, says Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada.
“The climate crisis is really an aspect, a symptom, of the more profound crisis, which is the democracy crisis,” May said when she appeared at Western Law last week as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series.
“The Prime Minister’s Office began to grow (under Prime Minister Trudeau) and it’s been growing ever since. It expanded enormously under (Brian) Mulroney, but there has been nothing like the control of the workings of the government by the prime minister as we experience with Stephen Harper. It’s extreme and I think it’s dangerous.”
May condemned the current government’s track record on environmental issues and warned that the state of Canadian democracy “is exacerbating the climate crisis.”
As one of the 167 countries to ratify the 1992 Kyoto Protocol, Canada pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels. Nearly two decades later “only our government has renounced the targets that we agreed to in that treaty. None of the other governments in the world has shirked the responsibility to act on the climate crisis.”
On the domestic front, she cited fundamental changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act of 1867 and the removal of environmental assessment for infrastructure projects as examples of rollbacks on environmental protections.
While the Harper government has blamed the economic crisis for its decision to reduce funding for climate research and renewable energy, May thinks now is the time for a shift to a greener economy.
“There are lots of visionary governments around the world that are seizing an economic crisis as an opportunity to implement green policies”, she noted. May pointed to the U.S. as “the closest example of a good example.”
President Barack Obama pledged $150 million for renewable energy initiatives and has repeatedly reiterated his commitment to renewable energy and the reduction of demand for foreign oil. More recently, he invited the heads of 14 states to meet in the White House in preparation for the December summit in Copenhagen which will be devoted to the reduction of gas emissions.
May also praised the European Union’s commitment to climate issues. “The EU has met its Kyoto target and [that] target was more challenging than ours,” said May.
“They’ve also found that it’s an economic winner. The biggest job creator in Germany has been the commitment to renewable energy.”
With the Copenhagen summit fast approaching and Canada lagging behind the U.S. and EU on environmental issues, May challenged her audience to “get involved in whatever way you can” to make environmental issues a Canadian priority.
Kamila Pizon is a second-year Law student and managing editor of Amicus Curiae, Western Law’s student newspaper