Climate demonstrations are scheduled for the weekend across 50 cities in Canada, just as Parliament prepares to reconvene next week in the wake of a summer that has seen wildfires, droughts, extreme storms and floods put climate change in a renewed global spotlight.
The marches across Canada are part of simultaneous global protests planned for Sept. 15-17, which have been timed to coincide with the upcoming UN General Assembly session in New York on Monday and the Climate Ambition Summit on Wednesday.
“After a summer of devastating climate impacts from coast to coast — and after decades of broken promises and rising emissions — the federal government must move quickly to cap emissions from Canada’s most-polluting sector: the oil and gas industry,” Climate Action Network Canada, which helping coordinate the demonstrations here, said in a statement.
The Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels, which is the organization behind the global marches, has six core demands. They want no new fossil fuels projects; a “rapid, just, and equitable phase out” of existing fossil fuel infrastructure; new commitments for international cooperation on renewable energy; an end to “greenwashing;” more action on holding polluters responsible for the environmental damage they’ve caused; and an end to fossil fuel participation in climate talks or funding for politicians.
According to a report published last week by Oil Change International, a climate-change research and advocacy organization, Canada was one of five “Planet Wrecker” countries among those with advanced economies, sometimes called the “global north.”
“Five global north countries with the greatest economic means to rapidly phase out production are responsible for a majority (51 per cent) of planned expansion from new oil and gas fields through 2050: the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway, and the United Kingdom,” said the report, which was released on Tuesday.
The report said only 20 countries will be responsible for nearly 90 per cent of CO2 pollution from the development of new oil and gas fields and fracking wells between 2023 and 2050.
The United States, which the report referred to as “planet wrecker-in-chief,” accounts for one-third of planned global oil and gas expansion through 2050.
“New drilling in countries with high incomes, diversified economies and outsized historical responsibility for causing the climate crisis, while claiming to be climate leaders, is inexcusable. These countries must not only stop expansion immediately but also move first and fastest to phase out their production and pay their fair share to fund a just global energy transition,” the report said.
Chris Camaso, an organizer of the climate strike in Edmonton, said, “The effects of the climate crisis can be felt coast-to-coast-to-coast. From devastating fires across Vancouver Island to the destruction of our old-growth forests, it’s time to shift away from fossil fuels before it’s too late.”
Last month, a climate protester was arrested at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa after throwing paint on a painting in a self-described climate protest. He was affiliated with the group On2Ottawa, which said the act was to draw attention to the group’s calls that Canada implement a national firefighting agency that employs 50,000 firefighters by 2024.
The Gallery said the painting was not harmed.
Last week, government experts said Canada could potentially see increased wildfire activity for the rest of the year, from eastern Alberta to central Ontario. Some existing large fires may continue to burn through September or possibly into late fall, or even into winter.
“Wildfires have always occurred in Canada, but what is new is their frequency and their intensity. The science is clear. The root cause of this is climate change,” Jonathan Wilkinson, federal minister for energy and natural resources, said on Thursday.
In July, the federal government released a framework to review and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. Canada is the first G20 country to roll out such a plan.
Unless a fossil fuel company significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, supports Indigenous participation, offers essential energy services to remote communities, provides short-term support for an emergency or supports projects that include carbon capture, their subsidies would be deemed “inefficient” and phased out.
The plans, though, have drawn criticism from activists who say they do not go far enough — in particular, because the plan to phase out subsidies does not apply to loans, guarantees and equity given to the TransMountain and Coastal GasLink pipelines.
TransMountain was bought by the federal government in 2018 with plans to sell down the road.
The Coastal GasLink pipeline is owned by TC Energy, the Alberta Investment Management Corp. and KKR & Co. Inc., with 20 First Nations holding options agreements for a 10 per cent equity stake.
“With the country on fire, a plan that sets deadlines further down the road is not enough,” Climate Action Network said in a statement. “Canada must unveil a plan this year to end all domestic public finance for oil and gas by the end of 2024, and redirect those funds to support a clean energy transition that does not cause harm to communities or ecosystems.”
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned in July that the world is past the point of global warming, and now in an “era of global boiling.”