On Wednesday, NBASGA was one of the co-signers of a letter signed by 28 groups in the Atlantic provinces, demanding that government leaders focus on growing renewable energy infrastructure instead of further fossil fuel development – including LNG and shale gas. The letter was sent to all the Premiers and Members of Parliament of the Atlantic Provinces, plus Trudeau, Guilbeault and Wilkinson.
Premier Higgs is pressuring Wolastoqey and Mi’kmaw leaders in NB to allow fracking by threatening to withhold funding, and promising future, speculative funding derived from fracking in the province, and NBASGA is seeking signatories to a Solidarity Statement calling for the government of New Brunswick to cease attempts to coerce consent to fracking in traditional and unceded territories of the Wolastoqiyik and Mi’kmaq people in the province.
“If Blaine Higgs tries to start fracking in New Brunswick once again, he’s very likely to see the same resistance from First Nations and other land defenders that rocked the province nearly a decade ago.”
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by Jim Emberger | Commentary Telegraph Journal, 28 June 2022
A recent Brunswick News editorial admitted Canadian fossil fuel companies might not profit on the misfortunes of the war in Ukraine (“Think long-term on resource projects,” June 17). That should have been a foregone conclusion.
Europe’s search for natural gas to replace Russian supplies logically pointed it toward nations that could fill its needs immediately. Many European nations also stressed that their climate crisis plans to reduce gas usage as quickly as possible were still in effect.
Canada would take years to become a European supplier, by which time there may no longer be a demand. Large fossil fuel projects are also generally planned for 30-year lifespans to recoup the massive financial investment involved. So, investors in Canada would risk their investments becoming stranded (essentially, lost) if the Europeans stick to their climate pledges.
by Jim Emberger – Letter to the Editor, Telegraph Journal & Daily Gleaner
A recent editorial in Brunswick News accused the Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, of misfeasance, because he isn’t promoting Canadian fossil fuel exports to Europe. Besides displaying a lack of understanding of the climate crisis, the editorial argument is without merit.
To begin: Guilbeault is the Minister of the Environment. Protecting the environment is his primary mandate. He doesn’t work for the industry promoters that run the Natural Resources ministry.
Next: the overarching threat to the environment everywhere is the climate crisis, referred to in Guilbeault’s Mandate Letter as an, ‘existential crisis’, the solution to which is to stop using fossil fuels.
PRESS STATEMENT
Fredericton (Nov. 15, 2020) – After seven years, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP has issued its Final Report on the RCMP raid on indigenous people and shale gas protestors in Rexton, Kent County, in 2013.
It’s appropriate to immediately state that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’. Except for those who were there, few may remember much about the event beyond pictures of burning cars. Many who testified as eyewitnesses may read this report and marvel that some of its conclusions directly contradict their testimony, more often than not simply because there was no video evidence.
By Margo Sheppard – The Daily Gleaner, January 24,2020
Fredericton is under pressure to join the many hundreds of Canadian municipalities and federal government that have declared a climate emergency. A Climate Emergency declaration is “a piece of legislation or directive putting a government or organization on record in support of emergency action to restore a safe climate.” (Climate Mobilization 2020)
With few indications of leadership at the provincial level in this province, local governments are being pushed to take the strongest possible action towards mobilization. So far Bathurst, Saint John, Moncton and Edmundston have done this. Are the declarations of climate emergency symbolic, without teeth? That depends on how much people hold Council members to account to living up to their words.
There are many important issues in every election, but the decisions that the next government will make on facing the climate crisis will determine the future for you, your family, the nation, and the planet for decades to come.
Please find out where your candidates stand on the climate crisis. Then vote only for a party that you feel accepts and understands the seriousness of the issue, and will go beyond campaign slogans to create solid plans that will actually address it.
With smart policy, Canada’s clean energy sector is poised for rapid growth as fossil fuels slow down. The new energy era has already begun.
Clean Energy Canada and Navius Research have worked together to model the potential for growth of Canada’s clean energy sector from 2020 to 2030 compared to the fossil fuel energy sector.
écrit par Sustainable Energy Group, Carleton County, NB
(English version)
Le réchauffement climatique constitue une urgence planétaire qui a des effets sur la santé et des répercussions économiques et financières dévastatrices.