Dear Editor:
The Trudeau government has released their 2023 budget. In spite of years of pressure from several movements for a clean environment, as it stands, the plan provides for significant new investments in renewable energy and electrification. Good start.
But those investments are a drop in the bucket compared with the billions in federal subsidies being given the fossil fuel sector. The government ignored the promise to phase out paying billions of dollars to further contribute to climate destruction. This new budget pours even more public money, our tax money, down the insatiable gullet of big oil through tax breaks for unproven solutions like blue hydrogen and carbon capture.
On March 29, a large RCMP force raided a Gidimt’en village site on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. So much for reconciliation. They arrested five Indigenous land and water defenders, a persistent pattern of harassment and intimidation that police and private security have unleashed on Wet’suwet’en members. All of this disrespect and violation of rights for the sake of a fracked gas pipeline, makes a farce of Canada’s climate pledges.
No matter how much Canada invests in clean energy, we will never achieve a just transition if we let big oil keep sucking up public money and trampling Indigenous rights. This is not the legacy I want to leave my grandchildren and future generations of Canadians.
Gerry Walsh,
Erin