Dear Mr. Prime Minister and all those it may concern,
My name is Amelia Penney-Crocker. I’m a writer and activist and for every one of the last seventeen weeks, I’ve written you a letter about the Climate Crisis. I know that in the recent weeks and for the near future the Climate Crisis will be put on the back burner because of the COVID-19 Crisis. But as Tzeporah Berman said in an interview on CBC’s The House, “We can’t afford to deal with one crisis at a time.” She is right. One crisis will not give us a break because we are busy dealing with something else. You and your government is very busy, and I know you are doing your absolute best to keep Canadian’s healthy and financially stable. But you’re not getting a break from my letters, just like the world isn’t getting a break from the climate crisis.
The heath crisis around the world has resulted in an economic crisis, and your government is in the process of delivering economic aid to people and companies. Some people may think this has little to do with the climate, but there is something you need to do (or rather not do) for the climate during an economic crisis: Don’t bail out the oil and gas companies. Instead support the workers. Don’t pour money into the oil industry because that never helps the workers who need it the most. You must realize the fate of the companies isn’t the fate of the Canadians they employ and there has in history been little correlation between company bailouts in crises and job creation. The International Energy Agency says that a central part of the government’s economic plans should be large scale investments to boost the development, deployment and integration of clean energy technologies. Because that is what will actually help Canada’s economy and environment in the near and long-term future.
We need to move away from this sector and to do that the government must stop helping the sector. What you must do is help the people, because you’re their elected leader. Especially in this pandemic, but also in the near future to help oil and gas workers transition to a green economy. Ian Hussey, a researcher at the Edmonton based Parkland Institute says that “The industry in Alberta, and across Canada, has been shedding jobs consistently over the last five years.” There is no future in oil. I think this issue was best stated in the open letter sent to you recently and sighed by many civil societies in Canada. “Giving billions of dollars to failing oil and gas companies will not help workers and only prolongs our reliance on fossil fuels.”
I hope you’re having a wonderful day!
Amelia Penney-Crocker