Can Our Future Get Greener?

Yesterday I walked down the street and voted Green in the Canadian federal election. I would as soon be dropped in a vat of boiling Alberta oil as vote Conservative because of its non-plan regarding addressing climate change and the sneakiness of Andrew Scheer. Justin Trudeau managed to sell out by buying a pipeline for votes he didn't get out West and bailed on integrity to garner votes in Quebec, which he didn't get. Duh. The NDP ran an interesting campaign which did speak to climate issues, but wasn't as strong as the Green platform.

So, I decided that the Greens would be my party of choice even though there wasn't the slightest hope of election in our riding and the Liberal candidate (who was re-elected) is hard-working and seemed to serve our area well. Was that quixotic on my part -- which sounds so much better than foolhardy? Perhaps. And yet I have grown impatient as a grandparent who cares about the future for my children and grandchildren and the inaction of a government which says this is an urgent issue and then acts otherwise. I just had to take the plunge and vote on principle. 



In case you missed it, in June, the House of Commons voted to "declare that Canada is in a national climate emergency." This will require lawmakers to "make deeper reductions in line with the Agreement's objective of holding global warming below two degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius." This seems to have meant all of nothing.

Here's what I'm hoping, as a Christian, a proud tree-hugger,  and a concerned citizen of Canada and Turtle Island. A chastened Liberal government should act on Elizabeth May's suggestion that an all-party climate action "war cabinet" be implemented to develop a national strategy. Why not appoint her as chair, allowing Catherine McKenna to maintain her role as Minister of Environment and Climate Change without the whole thing seeming partisan? May has been consistent through the decades and worked for the Conservatives under Mulroney, when the party actually cared about the environment and got the notion of conserving.

And make sure the BQ is involved in this working group. Some of us may shake our heads over the election of so many Bloc Quebecois MPs yet this is a province which has been involved in a carbon cap and trade program with California for several years. Ya, it's basically the same one the dopey Ontario Conservatives axed.  

I know, I know, you think the dementia is taking hold of my aging brain. But do you really think that the blundering Liberals and Conservatives are on the right path?  I'm going to pray that this minority government will be pushed toward policies which will allow us all to "live with respect in Creation."