Dear Editor:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other world leaders were to meet in Glasgow for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference – also known as COP26. Did you know the following facts?
1. Canada, using our tax dollars, is a big contributor to the global emissions that cause climate change. Our government gives the highest, yes, the highest amount of financial support for the fossil fuel sector out of all G20 countries.
2. Payouts to oil and gas companies make it less expensive for industry to pollute. This leaves us less tax money for public goods like education, health care, alternative energy, clean drinking water – and a just transition.
3. Canada spent at least $18 billion dollars in 2020 propping up the companies most responsible for the climate crisis. We cannot allow this destructive behaviour to be normalized!
If Trudeau wants to show real climate leadership ahead of COP26, the federal government should commit to ending subsidies. We need to stop financing the fossil fuel sector before the end of 2022 and redirect our money into an energy transition that gives people training, jobs, and support for a new, kind world.
Gerry Walsh,
Erin