Oakville Council has delayed climate action for too long. Although they declared a climate emergency in 2019 council has yet to implement any true actions to help reduce emissions for our Town and its citizens. Our Town has a responsibility to put in place programs to help support its residents to reduce emissions and adapt to our changing climate. This summer’s wildfires were a wake-up call to all residents that we must act now. Please use our letter-writing tool to demand climate action from Mayor Rob Burton and our Oakville Council in the 2024 Oakville Budget.

June 23, 2023, Environment and Climate Minister Kevin Klein released the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission Report on the Sio Silica Corp proposed extraction project. The Commission did not recommend licensing of the project - far more research is required. Sio Silica’s Environment Act Proposal is severely deficient of critical data, studies and reports - Sio Silica has not done its due diligence. Sio Silica’s Proposal should never have passed the initial Department of Environment and Climate screening - too many fundamentally important questions were not addressed. Our community’s groundwater and environment are far too precious to proceed with a project with associated risks that are not fully understood and cannot be appropriately mitigated to protect our health and quality of life. Please write to the Honourable Kevin Klein urging the minister to be consistent with his commitment to take the Commission’s report “very seriously” and categorically reject Sio Silica Corp’s licensing proposal application on the grounds that they have failed to demonstrate the potential environmental effects of the project are fully understood or will be sufficiently addressed and mitigated. Given the importance of our groundwater and environment and the significance of the potential risks, this project must be rejected. For more information, please see: http://www.cecmanitoba.ca/hearings/silica-sand-extraction-project/index.html https://mbeconetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Letter-to-Minister-Klein_CEC_follow-up_July-19-2023.pdf https://ourlineinthesandmanitoba.ca/ and https://www.facebook.com/ourlineinthesandmanitoba/ The Narwhal https://thenarwhal.ca/manitoba-sio-silica-sand-environment-commission/ Winnipeg Free Press July 10, 2023 Editorial - Economics versus environment – Winnipeg Free Press

We all know the effects of climate change, and we also know that something has to be done about it before it is too late. Not just for our own wellbeing, but for the security of our children and grandchildren. We all know that increasingly violent and deadly storms, floods, fires and droughts are becoming daily items on the news. We must take action. Something as simple as amending the city's building code is one step towards greening the environment, and doesn't even require a lot of individual sacrifice.

Canada cannot continue to produce more oil as the world moves toward net zero. Unfortunately, the oil industry is actively lobbying for more production. This will lead to a collapse of the oil industry, leaving the taxpayers to clean the pollution they created. Please sign the petition at: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4225

Despite being built on provincially significant wetlands, a groundwater recharge area, and highly-vulnerable aquifers and woodlands, the aerodrome has been designed to specifically avoid a required assessment by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada; The principles of the Baldwin East aerodrome have been involved in the waste management industry and have been cited by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for dumping contaminated fill; The proponents plan to dump 1.2 million cubic metres of fill (120,000 truck loads) on to the site without limitation or testing; and There have been numerous instances of corporations using the pretense of building an aerodrome under federal jurisdiction to lucratively dump fill without scrutiny by municipal and provincial authorities; 97% of respondents who participated in the consultation process – including the Town of Georgina, York Region, and the Chippewas of Georgina Island, objected to the proposal; This is nothing more than a pretense by a waste disposal company to lucratively dump fill without scrutiny by municipal and provincial authorities.

Over 80% of the GHGs driving dangerous climate change are caused by the burning of fossil fuels. We need to replace fossil fuels with clean energy. Electrification is the best option to replace fossil energy. We need to expand our grid capacity and remove barriers to clean renewable generation. Without expanded interprovincial electricity transmission, provinces like Saskatchewan will not develop its world class solar and wind resources. The federal government can remove the barriers to clean energy by strengthening interprovincial transmissions by building the Clean Energy Corridor from coast to coast. This is a national project akin to building the railroad: Electric Federalism provides the path to a Net-Zero future!

If these planned changes occur, commercial aircraft will fly directly over our homes at 6,000 feet or less. This will occur 24 hours per day based on their plans. This website explains the imperative: https://nooverflights.com/

Doug Ford lied. Last month he tabled a piece of legislation — Bill 23 — to eviscerate our pristine Greenbelt, breaking his promise to leave it alone. [1] This bill is an attack on the environment and democracy — all under the guise of expanding housing. [2] Bill 23 would allow Ford to take 7,400 acres of farmland and natural areas and strip environmental protections that protect wildlife, keep our drinking water safe, guard wetlands, and ensure flood protection. [3] To pave over our Greenbelt, Ford is undermining the planning power of municipalities, forgoing requirements for public meetings and overriding the ability of communities to appeal decisions. [4] And housing experts and advocates have been clear: with a focus on making money, the bill will actually limit the ability to build new affordable rental housing and jeopardize the affordable housing that exists. [5,6] All the while, corporate land developers are set to profit big from this plan. [7] Public outrage is growing — and there’s still time to stop this Bill from going through. Will you sign this petition to help show mass public support and demand Bill 23 is stopped? Sources: [1] https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/11/04/ontario-backtracks-on-greenbelt-pledge-with-plan-to-allow-housing-on-7400-acres.html [2] https://ontarionature.org/bill-23-what-you-need-to-know-blog/ [3] https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/11/10/opinion/sacrificing-ontario-scarce-green-space-sprawl-giant-mistake [4] see 2 [5] https://acorncanada.org/take_action/doug-fords-bill-23-destroys-existing-affordable-housing-builds-more-luxury-condos-scrap-it-now/ [6] https://uwaterloo.ca/news/media/q-and-experts-more-homes-built-faster-act-or-bill-23 [7] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/gta-developers-own-greenbelt-land-swap-1.6648273

The locations for these "developments" have been chosen solely based on the, suddenly reduced, assessed price of the land and no other considerations. Deals are being made without due diligence behind closed doors. All efforts to question these decisions are met with silence from the government and developers. Thousands of Nova Scotians are protesting these maneuvers, yet no explanation of the method behind this madness has been offered.

Industries aligned with climate action are welcomed in event programming, and there are many of these companies present at COP27. However, oil and gas companies, like those active within the Pathways Alliance, have been the biggest obstacle to climate action — both at COP and back in Canada, and for decades now have made their fortunes while millions around the world suffer the tragedies of climate impacts. Oil and gas companies are touting themselves as climate leaders, while in fact their activities continue to erode the rights and negatively impact the health and culture of Indigenous communities, notably through trillions of liters of toxic waste stored in tailings “ponds.” Companies keep pointing to carbon capture and storage — despite the technology’s decades-long track record of underperformance and failure. And even if the technology did work, carbon capture would do nothing about the environmental harm caused to Indigenous nations at the frontlines of oil and gas extraction. Carbon capture cannot address the 80%-90% of emissions that are emitted when the oil and gas they pump out of the ground gets burned. The industry isn’t interested in carbon capture to reduce emissions — it’s about greenwashing its plans to continue producing fossil fuels for decades to come.

Because passenger vehicles account for such a large percentage of air pollution in Canada, just a small reduction in average emissions from vehicles can have a very positive impact on our environment! This is also a time and cost effective solution that could be rolled out quickly. And it is a problem that will never go away. If we were all driving Electric Vehicles today, they still require properly inflated tires to preform efficiently. Let's get those tires inflated!! "Cars, pick-up trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are all types of passenger vehicles used for personal transportation in Canada. Given that there are approximately 18 million passenger vehicles on Canadian roads, they are a major contributor to air pollution, particularly in urban areas. Air pollution has major adverse impacts on the environment and the health of Canadians. While emissions of some pollutants from passenger vehicles have declined over the past two decades, air pollution continues to be one of Canada's highest environmental priorities and challenges. Passenger vehicles emit various air pollutants including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO) and sulphur oxides (SOx). Both nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds(VOCs) are involved in a series of complex reactions that result in the formation of ground-level ozone, which is a respiratory irritant and one of the major components of smog. The Criteria Air Contaminants Summary presents the emission estimates of these pollutants from transportation sources in Canada. Passenger vehicles account for a considerable proportion of the total national transportation emissions including: approximately 21 per cent of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions approximately 51 per cent of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions approximately 4 per cent of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) emissions" Copied from: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/air-pollution/sources/transportation/cars-trucks-vans-suvs.html

Our children's life is in danger!! The Taliban is the most misogynist regime on the planet today, committing large-scale human rights violations, establishing a system of total gender apartheid, and specifically targeting those they see as promoting “western” values. As Canadians, we must now hold our government accountable for the harmful consequences of their actions internationally and call on PM Trudeau, Minister Fraser, and IRCC to fulfill a moral obligation to save as many lives as possible.