Dear Mr. Prime Minister, and all those it may concern,
Let’s talk about this objectively. We have committed to do our ethical part in stopping the climate crisis by going net zero by 2050. Yet we’ve started to build a new tar sands mine that would run and emit carbon until 2067. We are nowhere near our targets at the moment so it’s not like we have lots of wiggle room.
Hello, it’s Amelia Penney-Crocker, the girl who writes to a letter every week. This week I’m writing to talk about the Teck project proposed in Alberta. It has been marketed as a massive economy booster, but it is not. Yes it will provide a sugar rush to the economy, a few seconds of sweetness that will force us to work much harder to get to our targets and somethings we will have to do as a result will likely lay a huge weight on our economy. Besides, that sugar rush will be bad for us in the long term because the project will be contributing to climate change and that crisis will be crippling our economy.
The next argument for Teck is that it will provide so many jobs for many Albertans, and yes, it will. But I think it’s very irresponsible of the government to continue only to provide jobs in thisindustry. A good government that actually cared about its people would be working as hard as it could to find newjobs that don’t contribute to one of the greatest crises in human history. If you actually care about the people in Alberta looking for jobs, you will find them one that helps them short term, and helps our planet long term. You are just continuing to perpetrate the myth that that is the only field where they will ever get a job instead of finding a new field for them, instead of fighting for their today, and their children’s tomorrow. By approving Teck, you are taking the easy way out in solving the economic slump in Alberta, and that is un-fair to the people of Alberta, of Canada and the world.
Don’t approve Teck. It’s irresponsible. You know that it’s not going to be good for Canada in the end. This project will not let us reach our targets, that are, in my opinion, already not aggressive enough. Perhaps you don’t care that Teck will only provide a sugar rush to the economy and not real, long term fuel, because by the time this is causing problems you will probably done with politics. You’ll be retired, having had a wonderful career while the new leaders must try desperately to turn off the taps while they’re drowning in oil.
I hope you’re having a wonderful day!
Amelia Penney-Crocker