The ClimateFast newsletter shares information, resources, news, and activist opportunities about the climate crisis that may interest our readers, and does not necessarily reflect the views of ClimateFast members. If you have an event or resource you would like to share, please send it to newsletter@climatefast.ca.

JUST 4 DAYS TO OCTOBER 24TH!!
LET’S MAKE THIS  A CLIMATE ELECTION! 

Find your climate candidate and be sure to vote.  Help bring out the vote!  Scroll down for links and resources on the municipal election.

Municipal elections are being held across Ontario on October 24, 2022. Think about the kind of community you want to live in and learn which candidate best represents your views. 

ClimateFast is one of several organizations that have developed tools and resources to help you find a candidate that will be a climate action champion. We have prepared a list of questions that can be put to candidates via phone or email, at debates, or on social media; these questions were devised with Toronto in mind, but many can be applied to other municipalities as well.

ClimateFast is a member of the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign (OCEC), which held a press conference on Wednesday Oct.19th in the Queen’s Park media gallery. The event featured speakers on each of the four points of OCEC’s Municipal Climate Action Pledge. ClimateFast Co-Chair Lyn Adamson closed the conference with a call for ALL of us to do everything we can in the next five days to elect climate champions to municipal government. The recording link can be found in the resources section below.

Toronto residents may also find these resources helpful:

• Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign candidates’ pledge (Ontario-wide)
  
• Toronto Environmental Alliance Greener City for All pledge
• Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition election site
• Environmental Defence Litmus Tests for municipal candidates (also for GTA ridings & Ottawa)
• Progress Toronto’s list of progressive champions (note that some ClimateFast members are instead supporting Dianne Saxe in University-Rosedale, due to her strong environmental background). 

As an organization ClimateFast does not endorse candidates, but seeks to inform voters about research and recommendations from other groups working for climate justice.  

Oil and gas prices have risen dramatically this year due to the war in Ukraine, and Canadian fossil fuel companies’ profits have grown with them. Several organizations are calling on the federal government to implement an excess profits tax on these companies, with the added revenue used to support emissions reduction initiatives and to improve affordability for vulnerable Canadians. 

Sign the 350.org petition
Sign the Greenpeace petition

In advance of the COP27 climate talks in Egypt, international human rights groups are calling on the Egyptian government to expand civil liberties in the country and release the thousands of activists, journalists, politicians and others currently imprisoned there for political reasons. COP 27 is a critically important opportunity for the climate movement to both further demands for international cooperation on climate-related initiatives and to shine a light on the brutally repressive Egyptian state. We cannot pursue a safer world without addressing this. Here is an excerpt from the Egyptian Solidarity Initiative statement on COP27 that is revealing:

Egyptian activists who have opposed aspects of the government’s environmental policies have been harassed, imprisoned, put under surveillance and silenced. Whatever the issue, whether the fight against the importing of coal, or against cement factories close to residential areas and the health damages they cause, or against fertiliser factories polluting water sources, or even against the destruction of trees and green areas in urban centres to make way for construction projects, the response is always the same: repression.

The Egyptian Solidarity Initiative is asking people to sign this petition.

Read more on the subject.

Learn more about the Egypt Solidarity campaign

A recent report from the Independent Electricity System Operator found that, with a few changes to policy, Ontario could meet all of its projected electricity needs over the next decade through improved energy storage and renewable power generation. However, the provincial government is instead planning to increase Ontario’s reliance on natural gas for power generation. The Ontario Clean Air Alliance has released a letter template to urge Energy Minister Todd Smith to reconsider this position and invest in renewable power generation.

The Canadian Competition Bureau is investigating the Royal Bank of Canada for misleading advertising, related to the bank’s claim that it is committed to fighting climate change. 

RBC has publicly stated its support for the emissions reduction targets laid out in the Paris Agreement, while in effect it is one of the largest investors in fossil fuels worldwide, and has actually increased its investment in oil and gas in recent years. The investigation was launched in response to a complaint filed by the advocacy group Ecojustice in June 2022. 

More recently, a group of Canadian health professionals, supported by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, has filed a similar Competition Bureau complaint against the Canadian Gas Association. They allege that the natural gas lobby group has engaged in greenwashing through their Fuelling Canada ad campaign. If the complaint is investigated and found valid, the Canadian Gas Association may be required to pay up to $10 million in fines, as well as retracting their claims. 

Unions representing tens of thousands of workers in Canada’s oil sands are putting pressure on the government to dedicate more funds to the effort to transition away from fossil fuels. The Alberta Federation of Labour, in conjunction with several other labour groups, has sent a letter to the Prime Minister asking that the government dedicate at least 2% of the GDP to funding a just transition, with a focus on ensuring good jobs for workers in emerging industries. NDP Natural Resources Critic Charlie Angus has supported their demands in parliament. 

ClimateFast members hosted a table at the Harvest Ontario Walk at the Brampton Fairground on October 1st. It was a windy day! A great opportunity for tabling and meeting committed activists from all over the GTA and around Ontario. Great music too! Susan Bakshi and Stephanie Richard-Chadda carried the ClimateFast banner!  Great clip on City News!