Write a Letter to the Editor about why we should Defund Trans Mountain
Our government is needlessly spending billions of dollars on the Trans Mountain pipeline. We know this money should go toward tackling the climate crisis and supporting our communities. Together, thousands of us came together to spread that message.
Over 800 letters have been submitted to papers across Canada and many have been published. Here are some of the ones that were successful:
Burnaby Now: “Time to Defund Trans Mountain Expansion”
Kelowna Daily Courier: “Trudeau fiddles with pipelines as forests burn”
Times Colonist: “Invest in the future, not in the past”
Toronto Star: “Canada must defund pipelines and fund green energies instead”
Hill Times: “Trudeau government should defund Trans Mountain pipeline, invest in a Green New Deal”
East Kootenay News: “Trans Mountain pipeline should be defunded”
Picton Gazette: “Federal government putting pipelines over people”
Maple Ridge News: “Turn to federal care home system for long term jobs, not pipeline”
The News Pocket: “Canada has to defund pipelines and finance green energies”
Penticton Herald: “As forests burn, PM fiddles with pipelines”
Cowichan Valley Citizen: “Defund Trans Mountain”
London Free Press: “Pass on pipeline”
Castanet: “No action on climate”
Did your letter get published? Let us know by sending us an email at [email protected].
A second wave of COVID-19 is hitting much of Canada, wildfire smoke is just starting to clear from the air, and we’re still at the base of a long road to recovery. In this critical time, Canadian federal leaders are debating some of the most important policy proposals of our lifetime. We have to speak up now to make sure they prioritize what matters.
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, and we bought it for $5.4 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 was told 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.
Before Justin Trudeau bought the Trans Mountain pipeline, the project was such a bad bet that Texas oil giant Kinder Morgan walked away from the project. Here’s why:
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.
We know that a Green New Deal sets us up to take care of people, create millions of decent jobs, and tackle the climate crisis. Learn more about the movement for a Green New Deal here.
The math just doesn’t make sense. The climate math doesn’t add up, the economics don’t make sense and, if we’re going to build back better, we need to put every single dollar we can to projects that help all people and communities. The longer we wait to defund TMX, the worse it’s going to be.
The pipeline might be creating a few short term jobs, but it’s doing so at a cost to the climate and to a just recovery from COVID-19. We need to put every dollar we can into transforming our economy to rebuild from COVID and tackle the climate crisis, TMX does neither.