On April 4 Wayne Stetski NDP Member of Parliament for Kootenay – Columbia, asked when the federal Liberal government will end fossil fuel subsidies and help workers transition to the green jobs of the future.
MP Stetski said his constituents are calling for action on climate change, highlighting students from Nelson who recently participated in a climate change strike and Ktunaxa students in grades five and six who wrote him passionate letters. MP Stetski hand delivered copies of the letters to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Prime Minister last month.
READ MORE: MP Stetski asks parliament why gas stations are always the same price
“Continuing to subsidize the fossil fuel industry is not climate leadership,” said Stetski in a news release. “The impacts of climate change are already being felt in Kootenay – Columbia and across the country. We are running out of time to mitigate the damage and we need to act now with more ambitious GHG reductions and investments in the green economy.”
MP Stetski raised the issue in the House of Common’s Question Period on the heels of reports released earlier this month.
A report commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada released on April 1 found that Canada is warming at twice the global average. The study found that addition to the higher temperatures, Canada is experiencing increases of “extreme fire weather” and water supply shortages in the summer.
On April 2, the commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development tabled her Spring 2019 Reports in Parliament which included audits on tax and non-tax fossil fuel subsidies.
READ MORE: Stetski-Budget faily to put people and planet first
The environment commissioner found the Liberal government is failing to identify and assess a complete list of fossil fuel subsidies.
The government only looked at 23 per cent of government departments to identify non-tax subsidies and didn’t consider the expansion and purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline as a potential subsidy. The commissioner also found the government’s assessments of fossil fuel subsidies failed to look at long-term environmental and social considerations on an equal basis as economic factors.
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