Call for Cross Party Cooperation

A Letter to the Editor of The Carillon, September 3, 2019

As we think of our neighbours in the 11 Manitoban municipalities who have declared an agricultural crisis, it is important we reflect on working together as Manitobans and Canadians in new productive ways.

An August 2019 Abacus Poll showed that 82 per cent of Canadians think climate change is a serious problem, including 47 per cent who call it “extremely serious”.

Calling for an all-hands-on-deck response to the existential threat of runaway global warming, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands) has reiterated her call to her fellow federal party leaders to form a cross-party Climate Emergency Cabinet to lead Canada as it confronts the climate emergency.

Neighbours know how important pulling together can be in extreme weather and it looks like we have a rocky road ahead as the 2018 UN Intergovernmental Panel report on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that unless the global average temperature increase is held to 1.5 degrees C, our hospitable biosphere is at grave risk. We have months, not years, to take drastic measures to prevent potentially, unmanageable weather dramatically impacting all food production and species health. All the forest & farm workers I know are seeing the trees in their areas suffering (species extinction) and agricultural production taking a severe hit.

“If we are to succeed in keeping to 1.5 degrees C, we must prepare our nation to wage battle on a scale sufficient to the task,” said Ms. May. “We have to begin thinking like a country and develop a comprehensive energy strategy, one in which climate targets rule. You can’t negotiate with the atmosphere. The crisis we are facing will require all of Canada’s collective will and energy. It cannot be a partisan affair. We must move forward with joint purpose and unwavering resolve. We owe Canadians nothing less.”

Please neighbours, speak to your local candidates about what they are doing to work across party lines with this crucial Climate Emergency Cabinet.

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