Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to set up an all-party “war cabinet” to address the “ultimate existential threat” of climate change.
The MPs who participated in such a body would be expected to put “partisanship and political considerations” aside, The Hill Times reports, recognizing that “time is of essence and that climate change is the fundamental security threat to our future.”
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May said she was seeking a meeting with Trudeau to discuss the idea.
“It takes a very different kind of mindset to respond to a crisis this fundamental, where we’re distracted by day-to-day politics,” she explained. “We’re not paying attention to the biggest threat that’s in front of us.”
For a war cabinet or all-party committee to succeed, “it should be representative of Parliament: so New Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, but preferably those who understand climate issues,” she added. “We could put together a solid effort that’s non-partisan.”
So far, the three other parties May wants to interact with seem to be deflecting the idea. Trudeau press secretary Matt Pascuzzo “did not say clearly if the prime minister would consider either of the two ideas” May had proposed, writes reporter Abbas Rana. MP Mark Gerretsen (L, Kingston and the Islands), was more specific in his reply, but said he’d need to hear more details of what she has in mind.
“I would like to hear more about that proposal,” he said. “I’m certainly of the mindset that this does not need to be a partisan issue, we’re well beyond that. The science is real. We’re seeing it all around us and we need to start doing something to have meaningful change on our climate agenda, not just in Canada or individual provinces but globally.”
MP Nathan Cullen (NDP, Skeena-Bulkley Valley) said his party would participate “if the government agreed in advance to give the committee power to come up with binding targets and concrete actions,” but would not support another “process body” that substituted consultation for real action, Rana notes.
“We would only see virtue in sitting down at an all-party table if that table had the power to actually legislate targets and actions rather than just being another advisory group of the government,” Cullen said.
MP Michael Cooper (CPC-St. Albert) called the proposal impractical. Climate change “is an important issue, but the economy is an important issue, getting our energy to markets is an important issue, there’re a number of issues that we have to tackle,” he said. “We need to tackle them together.”
Here we go again: the worn-out, tiresome, meaningless saw of ‘the economy is important’ for NOT DOING anything . . . . . what a crock!!
“Cimate change is an important issue” appears to be the new face of Conservative climate change denialism. What will it take for these clowns — and those dumb enough to vote for them — to get the message?? Fossil fuels MUST stay in the ground. Yes, there are a number of issues we have to tackle — number one is why we continue to support politicians who do not put OUR interests and those of future generations at the top of their agenda.
“We are unanimously convinced that rapid, radical redressment of the present unbalanced and dangerously deteriorating world situation is the primary task facing humanity.” Meadows, Meadows, Randers and Behrens. 1972. The limits to growth. Potomac Associates, & Signet New American Library. A Club of Rome Report.
Climate_Emergency_Plan_Final-1-1 THE CLUB OF ROME CLIMATE EMERGENCY PLAN NOV 2018
This emergency warning has been ringing out for decades. The UN and many of the world’s scientists and thinkers are trying desperately to get the world to act to limit carbon emissions and have reductions in them. The underlying struggle is to establish an equilibrium state, a world system that recognizes that on an isolated planet there are limits to growth, food production, non-renewable resources, pollution absorption, economic outputs, and population growth.
Thank God for Elizabeth May’s suggestion — the countries leaders MUST immediately address the crisis of global warming!
It’s clear that MP Cooper still does not “get” what climate change/global warming really is. I fear this is symptomatic of most of Parliament, especially the CPC, and it does not bode well for Canada doing much about climate until we are fully into the crisis — about a year or two from now. What a challenge it is for us humans to work together, yet this new Anthropocene epoch demands nothing less — in spades!
So I should jolly well think. Every country should be doing this
We will plow ahead until a crisis hits, that’s what I speculated on in novel form Pinatubo II, and that’s what I continue to believe, knowing humans and how they function. E May is politically brilliant, but limited as yet.
Pinatubo II on Amazon (see website for a free version)
https://www.amazon.ca/Pinatubo-II-Climate-Reality-Book-ebook/dp/B017200JF6
Try running an economy without an en environment. Hungry employees are not very productive. Factories don’t build stuff without raw materials. Every aspect of our economy is dependent on the natural world being able to sustain itself. It is in our own best interest to make sure the environment is protected. This isn’t about saving the earth. This is about saving our own ruddy little necks. This is about saving the civilization we need to feed 7.5 billion of us.
I for one would like our civilization to survive. Wouldn’t you?
Unfortunately thevfossil fuel industry has captured too many politicians to the point wherevthey are in denial about thecseriousness of the situation. Canada isnone of the world’s worst culprits when it comesvto creating greenhouse gases, yet we continue to expand fossil fuel production.
This is why Extinction Rebellion is here. Right now. In Canada.
Elizabeth May is in good company with this call for a war cabinet. Bill McKibben has been suggesting this since 2016 (“We Need to Literally Declare War on Climate Change,” https://newrepublic.com/article/135684/declare-war-climate-change-mobilize-wwii) and the Climate Mobilization has been calling for the same (https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/)
Dr. Mark Jacobson of the Climate Solutions Project has developed roadmaps for most world countries to achieve zero carbon power by 2050 (https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/CountriesWWS.pdf)
May I propose attention be paid to 1) the general loss of faith in all institutions, thus all are welcome to their biases. 2) the chicken vs. egg of this and “Shopping for Votes” (Delacourt) – governance based on pollsters rather than evidence 3) thus the absolute practical need to pay attention to a) the lost role of journalism in a democracy , and b) the psychology of denial or fatigue: https://www.ted.com/talks/per_espen_stoknes_how_to_transform_apocalypse_fatigue_into_action_on_global_warming#t-440240