Sound the alarm on climate change

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Sound the Alarm

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Photo Credit: Tony Sprackett (2016)

Here’s the plan:

Why we’re taking action:

Over the past few months, people all across the world have woken up to alarms, health warnings and evacuation alerts because of wildfires, storms, flooding, and dangerous air quality. They couldn’t ignore the climate crisis and neither should our politicians.

That’s why, on November 17th, on the morning of the Trans Mountain crown corporation’s annual meeting, communities across the country will take action together to sound the alarm and demand big, bold ideas like defunding TMX and investing billions of dollars into a Green New Deal.

What we’re doing:

At dawn on Tuesday, November 17, people across the country will gather together at MP offices, CBC buildings, and other high traffic spaces to SOUND THE ALARM on the climate emergency. In song and story, with noisemakers and light, we’ll shake politicians out of their complacency. Together, we’ll demand that they take decisive and bold action to defund TMX and invest in a Green New Deal.

Why now?

On November 17th, the Trans Mountain crown corporation is holding its annual public meeting. This will be a closed-door meeting where oil executives discuss how they will spend our public money to build a climate-wrecking pipeline. It’s unacceptable that our federal government continues to sink billions into this pipeline in the midst of a climate emergency and global pandemic. But despite their best efforts to keep the public out of the conversation, we’re going to make sure that we are heard.

If the meeting was in person, we’d be there, but since it’s online we’re taking action all across the country to demand that Prime Minister Trudeau listen to the thousands of us he’s made unwilling shareholders in this pipeline and defund Trans Mountain.

This AGM comes days before the federal government’s fall fiscal update which is important because it’s when the government makes its current budget numbers public. We’re expecting confirmation of what we already know: the pipeline keeps getting more expensive and keeps making less sense.

FAQs

Is it safe to protest during the COVID-19 pandemic?

In a global pandemic, we can’t gather the same way that we could before. That’s why we are asking that all hosts and participants must respect COVID safety protocols in your region. At an absolute minimum, every participant must wear a mask at these actions.

Isn’t this the wrong time to protest?

The smoke that covered Canada late this summer made it clear that the climate crisis hasn’t taken a break because of the pandemic. Unfortunately Justin Trudeau hasn’t gotten that message, so we can’t take a break either. We need to sound the alarm and demand big, bold action.

Why this tactic?

People all across the world have been waking up to alarms, health warnings and evacuation alerts because of wildfires, storms, flooding, dangerous air quality, and other climate impacts. Our communities can’t ignore the climate crisis, so neither should our politicians. That’s why we’re sounding the alarm, to demand big, bold solutions to the crises we’re facing, like defunding Trans Mountain to funding a Green New Deal.

What is the Trans Mountain pipeline and why should we defund it?

This project didn’t make sense when Justin Trudeau bought it, and it makes even less sense now Defunding it is the best choice.

The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is a new fossil fuel pipeline that would carry tar sands from Alberta to just outside of Vancouver, BC. Originally owned by Texas oil giant Kinder Morgan, the Government of Canada bailed the project out in 2018 when Kinder Morgan threatened to walk away. At the time, the Trudeau government bought the pipeline (with out tax dollars) for or $4.5 billion.

Then, in early 2020, the government released updated costs for the project. Now at nearly $13 billion and climbing, public support for the pipeline dropped as the public learned that we would need to foot this growing bill. This was all before COVID-19 hit, which no doubt has driven the cost of the project even higher.

Here’s why Trans Mountain was always a bad bet, even before COVID:

- Shaky Economics: Trans Mountain requires ongoing tar sands expansion to make sense, and that requires a high price of oil. Before the pandemic hit, and the price of oil collapsed, the economics for Trans Mountain didn’t make sense. They make even less sense now. Read More.

- Local Opposition: There has long been a large and loud opposition to Trans Mountain all along the route, where concerns of an oil spill are top of mind. The existing pipeline that this expansion is being built atop has – by the companies own reporting – leaked more than 80 times, as recently as June 2020. Read More.

- Climate Change: The Trans Mountain pipeline will create millions of tonnes of carbon emissions, making it impossible for Canada to do its part in tackling the global climate crisis. Despite this, their own review of the project refused to consider the complete climate impact of the project. Thanks to all this, the pipeline faces opposition all across Canada, and the world. Read More.

- Indigenous Rights: Indigenous communities all along the Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker routes have raised major issues with the construction of the pipeline since it was first proposed. These groups have challenged the project in court, and on the land, with opposition continuing to grow. Read More.

What does it mean to build back better with a Green New Deal?

There is a national movement pushing all levels of government to put people first as they build plans to recover from COVID-19. Learn more about the movement here.

The Green New Deal is a plan to completely re-tool our economy to tackle the climate crisis and rising inequality at the pace and scale that science demands. It’s a visionary idea, with movements across the globe bringing it to life in their own particular ways. Fundamentally, a Green New Deal is about setting us up to take care of people, create millions of decent jobs, and tackle the climate crisis at the same time. s. Learn more about the movement for a Green New Deal here.