I just received a campaign flyer from my Kootenay-Columbia MP Rob Morrison. I have some concerns about the content. There is a certain luxury to being in opposition in that you don’t have to have demonstrated your performance in the situation for which you are being critical. The endorsement from other party members is intended to add credibility to the content.
In his new shadow cabinet position for national security, Mr. Morrison has not seriously acknowledged the role of climate change. In his book Climate Wars, authors Gwynne Dyer points out how climate change has helped lead to the destabilization of governments and produced climate refugees. The U.S. military has acknowledged that climate change is the biggest threat to national security.
Mr. Morrison offers input from Pierre Poilievre, shadow Minister of Finance: “The government must immediately approve $20 billion of privately funded natural resource projects.” You can assume these are oil and gas projects, both of which have a long history of government financial assistance. This seems counter to other positions offered by the UN Secretary General, who on several occasions called upon national leaders to remove subsidies to that sector. https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/guterres-fossil-fuels-mb1720/.
In addition, Guterres called for more investment to deal with climate change. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-united-nations-idUSKBN27S2OA.
Recently, Mark Carney, former head of the Bank of Canada and later head of the Bank of England, and now UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, cautioned the investment community about climate risk when making investment decisions. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/carney-money-tools-1.5773528.
Further to this the World Bank has been called out for its continued investment in fossil fuels. https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2020/world-bank-fossil-fuels/707381.
Clearly, what my elected representative and his party are proposing is not being influenced by global trends and concerns. Perhaps they should be.
Ron Robinson
Nelson
