The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is one of the largest pension funds in the world, managing $434.4 billion on behalf of more than 20 million working and retired Canadians. The CPP is invested by an independent, arms-length crown corporation called CPP Investments, with a mandate to invest in the best interests of Canadians (outside of Quebec) and ensure the long-term sustainability of Canadians pensions. How the CPP invests our retirement dollars is a major factor in how quickly Canada and the world can transition to a zero-carbon economy while growing our pension savings in a warming world. The decisions of pension funds like the CPP have major influence over whether companies build electric cars and solar panels, or diesel engines and oil and gas infrastructure. Every two years, the CPP is required by law to hold free public meetings. They are holding ten meetings from October 5th to 20th and encouraging us to participate and ask questions. You can register for meetings here: https://www.cppinvestments.com/public-meetings#:~:text=We%20hold%20public%20meetings%20every,meetings%20will%20be%20held%20online. The CPP provides little information on how it’s investing our retirement savings, but we’ve learned that the CPP: Currently owns about $12 billion worth of fossil fuel companies-- nearly double what it does in renewable energy; -Has $144 million invested in Chinese coal companies; -Owns a fracking company in Colorado that is drilling wells next to schools, homes and playgrounds, and donated over US$600,000 to pro-fracking candidates and Big Oil interest groups in Colorado’s 2018 state elections; -Bought Irish offshore gas reserves from Shell in 2017, only to see the new Irish government ban licenses for new offshore gas exploration and production this year; -Owns billions of dollars in shares in the most polluting oil sands, gas, coal and pipeline companies. -By the end of fiscal year 2020, the CPP’s “Energy and Resources” portfolio dropped 23.4 per cent-- the worst return of any asset group. These risky fossil fuel investments are incompatible with Canadian and global climate commitments, and are inconsistent with the CPP’s mandate to invest in the best interests of Canadians. You can send questions to the CPP today. Demand better and ask the CPP to stop investing our shared retirement savings in risky fossil fuels. Want to learn more about the CPP’s approach to investing in risky fossil fuels? Check out this handy guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KYesiEuXPySYOOCHKm7MGUytUscSANN8/view?usp=sharing For more information, email: [email protected]

Canada has been implicated in perpetrating war by the UN, due to Canada selling LAVs to Saudi Arabia which are being used in the war in Yemen. Canada has a trade agreement with Saudi Arabia which includes selling war implements to access to Saudi Arabia’s market, specifically oil. Canada needs to produce more green energy and get off oil dependency.

In recent years, Toronto public spaces have become a free-for-all for year-round fireworks. While celebration on special public holidays like Canada Day can be enjoyed by the whole family, certain parks in Toronto, like the Humber Bay Shores and Ashbridges Bay, have suffered from individuals with disregard for the needs of wildlife or neighbourhood peace shooting fireworks almost every night of the week and as late at 1:00 am. This causes harm in multiple ways: Quality of Life: Fireworks are being set off every night by different individuals, in many cases well after midnight. The disruption to a peaceful environment, loss of sleep, and overall harm to quality of life for residents speaks for itself. PTSD: Fireworks can trigger panic attacks in vulnerable populations, particularly those who have experienced PTSD, including veterans, refugees, victims of gun violence. These individuals can at least plan for a few scheduled holidays, but unscheduled nightly incidents literally make the city unliveable for them. Pollution: Research documents a two- to four-fold increase in suspended particulate matter in the air following fireworks, including trace metals harmful to our lungs. A few nights a year may be manageable, but the use of fireworks in some areas on a nightly basis through the summer becomes a health concern to local residents. And those wonderful volunteers who clean up public spaces can attest to the deluge of debris they are battling. Simply put, late night revellers typically don't clean up after themselves. Pet / wildlife safety: Pet owners see their loved pets suffer every night fireworks are lit, experience extreme anxiety, stress, and fear during fireworks. The harm to wildlife goes beyond fear created by these loud blasts. Perchlorate contaminates ground water and harms wildlife that drink that water, inhibiting iodine uptake in the thyroid gland and inhibiting iodine from crossing the placenta, impacting the ability of the fetus to regulate hormones. Geese, ducks, swans, and grebes all consume fireworks debris left over in the water. Shoreline birds may experience panic during nesting. And the noise can lead nocturnal birds to become disoriented and fly into windows of nearby condos. Chronic exposure due to multiple fireworks per week increases the risk to animal health exponentially. Species like the nocturnal Eastern Whip-poor-will are now designated as threatened, urbanization contributing to their diminishing numbers. We certainly don't need to exacerbate the environmental threat to wildlife so carelessly. Injury: Emergency Departments and Fire Departments prepare for an influx in the weeks leading up to our holidays. Hand burn and eye injuries are the most common reported injuries, adolescents experience the greatest prevalence of injury. This uncontrolled use of fireworks creates a needless diversion of front line health and safety resources. It's time for us to be more responsible with fireworks — for the sake of our pets, our parklands, our wildlife, and one another. Etobicoke Fireworks Remediation Committee References: Alupo, C (2017). Canine PTSD: An inquiry study on psychological trauma in dogs. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Environment and Health. Canner, J.K., Haider, A.H., Selvarajah, S., et al. (2014). US emergency department visits for fireworks injuries, 2006-2010. Journal of Surgical Research, 190(1): 305–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2014.03.066 PMID:24766725. Hickey, C., Gordon, C., Galdanes, K. et al. (2020). Toxicity of particles emitted by fireworks. Part Fibre Toxicol 17, 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12989-020-00360-4 Lin, C. (2016). A review of the impact of fireworks on particulate matter in ambient air. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 66(12), 1171-1182. DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2016.1219280 Shamoun-Baranes, J., Dokter, A. M., van Gasteren, H., et al. (2011). Birds flee en mass from New Year’s Eve fireworks. Behavioral Ecology, 22(6), 1173–1177. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arr102 Sijimol, M.R., Mohan, M. (2014). Environmental impacts of perchlorate with special reference to fireworks—a review. Environ Monit Assess, 186, 7203–7210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-3921-4

Habitat loss not wolves is driving caribou to extinction in British Columbia. Killing wolves is a cruel distraction. More than 1,000 wolves in BC have died agonizing deaths through aerial gunning since 2015. Since the 1970’s successive BC governments have ignored proven science and continued to waste time and money on the failed and misguided strategy of scapegoating wolves. It has been clear for decades that caribou are being driven to extinction by destructive human activities. Logging and other extractive industries damage and destroy critical habitat and snowmobiling, ATV’s and heli-skiing harass already stressed herds. As a result, caribou generally and particularly BC’s unique deep-snow dwelling mountain caribou have declined sharply over recent years. Research recently published in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation found that wolf kill programs in British Columbia (and Alberta) cannot be shown to provide the presumed benefit for reversing the decline of endangered caribou and are based, at best, on guesswork. Contractors hired by government to shoot wolves from helicopters are typically self-supervised and this killing method often entails extreme anxiety, pain and suffering prior to death, failing to ensure that wolves are killed humanely. In addition to ethical concerns, wolf kill programs incur high environmental and economic costs and degrade ecosystems. While we acknowledge with respect that the BC government, the Salteaux and West Moberly First Nations and Canada have undertaken a recovery program for a few herds in N.E. BC we are concerned about the plan’s reliance on wolf killing and maternal penning, neither providing the long-term benefit of habitat protection. Moreover, there are 54 herds in BC requiring protection and anything less than a province-wide recovery strategy will be a conservation failure.

It is important here in our province and everywhere else across the nation - and indeed, worldwide. Litter not only looks ugly, but causes real damage to wildlife and the environment in general. If we could address this very visible problem immediately, by fines, or a reward system for recycling, we would see the benefits all around us, of clean beaches, lakes, open spaces, in our cities and even along the sides of the roads. Our wildlife, both in the ocean and lakes as well as the woodlands would not be at risk of harm by ingesting plastic, birds and animals getting stuck with sometime fatal results in discarded tubs and cans would not be happening either. This would have a knock on effect for us all, as slowly, the plastic waste trickles down into water courses, and stays in the earth, not biodegrading, and polluting in a very big way. We could even, with the will, create sustainable jobs by processing all this waste by re-purposing, or waste to energy.

City people need clean, healthy air to support good health. The country needs clean air to reduce the frequency of forrest fires, windstorms and torrential downpours which flood many parts of our land. The costs related to saving lives and repairing the damage affects everyone by increasing their insurance rates.

The Ford Government wants to ramp up the greenhouse gas pollution from Ontario’s gas-fired power plants by more than 300% by 2025. (1) If Doug Ford and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) get their way, Ontario will not be able to meet its 2030 Climate Target. We must not let this happen! 1- https://www.cleanairalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GAS_REPORT_FINAL_WEB_R.pdf 52 groups - and growing - are part of this campaign! AWARE Simcoe Braden Homes Ltd. BurlingtonGreen Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment Canadian Climate Challenge Canadian Environmental Law Association Citizens Climate Lobby Creating Healthy & Sustainable Environments Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario Clean Air Partnership ClimateFast CoEnergy Co-operative David Suzuki Foundation Don Heights Unitarian Congregation, Social Action Committee Ecology Ottawa eMERGE Guelph Sustainability Environmental Defense Environment Hamilton Folkes Construction Inc Fridays for Future Fridays for Future Ottawa Grassshopper Energy Green 13 Green Party of Ontario Hamilton 350 Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul Kairos Leadnow Ministry for Social Justice, Peace, and Creation Care of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto. MobilizeTO Mount Dennis ecoNeighbourhood Initiative Ontario Clean Air Alliance Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-operative (OREC) Oxford Community Energy Co-operative Prevent Cancer Now Reep Green Solutions Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health SolarShare South Riverdale Community Health Centre Sustainable Waterloo Region The Council of Canadians The Lea[ The Roots Collaborative Toronto Environmental Alliance Toronto 350 Trinity St. Paul's United Church - Climate Justice Group University of Toronto Environmental Action (UTEA) Wellington Water Watchers Wilderness Committee Women's Healthy Environments Network York Region Environmental Alliance

We need to challenge the power of the military-industrial complex Do you know that the largest lobby group for the fighter jets is a charity - the Global Affairs Institute? We need the $19 billion for housing, child care, the green new deal, and for education, long-term care, etc. Quote: "More for COVID-19 latest hurdle in Canada's long road to buying new fighter jets" Fighter jets are a major polluter, and they are mainly used for air shows.

CanWhite Sands has applied for a sand processing plant to take out 5.5 CFL football fields squared by 26 stories high of silica sand each year for the next 25 years. The oxygenizing of this silica will produce acid of a pH of 2.44 leaching heavy metals like arsenic. The drainage is to the Brokenhead river where this acid along with a polyacrylamide which breaks down in sunlight and acid to acrylamide a potent neurotoxin. This project will pollute the Brokenhead river contaminate the carbonate aquifer and kill lake Winnipeg. This environmental assessment plan ignores key aspects of the proposal that will lead to this damage. Link to Government EAP: gov.mb.ca/sd/eal/registries/6057canwhite/index.html CWS Proposed Project Impacts to Brokenhead River - Dennis Analysis.pdf https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:f4976d99-cf02-4f89-8814-0505b2f4a1f4 Dennis LeNeveu's Correction of Free Press Article https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=139593417826957&id=115584813561151 Risk Assessment of CanWhite Sands Project “Dangerous to Eastern Watershed” By “Our Line in the Sand”- a local community group https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:d9881975-18b3-45d2-8198-a8f9126fa284

In 2013, when the Hupacasath FN realized the negative impacts of the CC-FIPA, they launched legal action with the help of West Coast Environmental Law. They lost the case; now China has more economic power than all Cdn. First Nations put together. With the severe impacts of climate change, Canada has a global responsibility to save what is left of the ancient forests.

Environmental groups and residents are fearful of the toxic chemicals that are likely to be released into the headwaters of the Oldman River watershed, which would endanger the drinking water of downstream cities such as Lethbridge and many wildlife species, including the threatened cutthroat trout. (Coal is associated with toxic levels of selenium; a similar coal project in Elk River, B.C., owned by Teck Resources, is releasing so much selenium that U.S. officials downstream are concerned.) A mine like this would result in huge habitat loss: area approximately the size of Edmonton would be impacted. Residents invested in the tourism industry in this well-loved part of Alberta are highly concerned about how the mine would negatively affect their businesses. Riverdale Resources say that they have received approval from all Treaty 7 nations, but according to Latasha Calf Robe, a member of the Blood Tribe, “No community-level consultation has been done on the Blood Tribe, and, as far as I know, has not been done with any of the communities in Treaty 7." The project has now gone to a joint provincial and federal review. If approved, it would open the door to other similar open-pit mines throughout the Rocky Mountains. Let's be clear: no matter what Riversdale Resources claims, projects like this will likely lead to poisoned fish, denuded rivers, and toxic drinking water. And burning the coal will sink our climate targets.

It has taken decades to establish laws and regulations to protect Ontario’s environment - it’s wildlife, biodiversity, ecosystems and species at risk. Now, the Ford government is taking advantage of its majority government to gut these regulations while ignoring its legal obligations under the existing environmental protection laws. On July 22, 2020 in the last week of Ontario Parliament’s summer session Premier Ford rammed through Bill 197, the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act on Wednesday and cancelled Thursday sitting. Bill 197 passed after no consideration at committee, and only 50 minutes of debate at Third Reading. It is a giant piece of omnibus legislation with far-reaching changes, including gutting environmental oversight rules. The Ford government was "not compliant" with the law by passing its omnibus economic recovery bill Tuesday without consulting the public on major environmental changes according to auditor general Bonnie Lysyk. Previously the Ford government eliminated the office of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario and more recently, on July 1, 2020, exempted forestry activities from the requirements of the Environmental Assessment Act.