Budget 2023 Must Prioritize People and Planet, Say Greens
– As Canadians face increased costs of living from housing to groceries, Greens call on the NDP-supported Liberal government’s Budget 2023 to prioritize people and the planet. The Green Party of Canada is advocating for the governing party to stop transferring public money into private pockets that increase the wealth gap and profits from the destruction of our environment.
This year, Canada’s ten largest oil and gas companies – all privately owned – claimed $66.5 billion in pre-tax profits. Meanwhile costs for the TMX pipeline keep increasing – in part because of floods caused by climate change – from 4.5 to 30.9 billion dollars. It’s high time this government imposed a windfall profit tax, end all subsidies for the production and expansion of fossil fuels, and prioritized Canadians’ wellbeing.
”What could this government do for Canadians with TMX’s $30.9 billion? Add thousands of affordable housing units on the market? Forgive all student loan debt in Canada? Build a high-speed rail service from Québec city to Windsor? Deliver the Canada Disability Benefit? » asked Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada. « Sadly, we will never know under this Liberal government because they chose to buy and build a climate-killing pipeline to pander to private interests. »
” This highlights what this Liberal government’s budgeting has looked like so far: wrong choices for Canadians, wrong choices for the planet, betrayed promises, nice handouts to their friends and more business as usual, ” said Jonathan Pedneault, Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada. ” They now have a duty to change course and show that they are serious about addressing the climate emergency, abolishing legislated poverty and bolstering a strong, resilient green economy. “
Last week, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report unequivocally called on governments to keep fossil fuels in the ground to avoid a disastrous average temperature rise of 1.5 Celsius by the end of this decade running the risk of exceeding tipping points, threatening human civilization.
At a mere 1.2 degree Celsius of average temperature rise, climate change delivered the following to Canadians this past year: more forest fires in BC, more droughts in the Prairies, more extreme weather events like the Derecho storm in the Ottawa Valley, and a destructive and deadly hurricane in the Atlantic. Meanwhile, this government plans to wait until 2030 before rolling out its adaptation strategy to render Canadian communities more resilient to climate change.
“These delays are deadly and fundamentally unjust, as extreme weather events disproportionately affected older and disabled Canadians as well as people living precariously and struggling to house themselves in an economy that keeps on asking more from people but delivers little,” said Pedneault
“In my community and across the country, folks are calling for the federal government to step up and invest in healthcare, proven climate solutions, justice for people with disabilities, and deeply affordable housing. They’re not interested in this government making rich people richer or for Big Oil continuing to put their corporate greed ahead of our children’s future,” said Mike Morrice, MP for Kitchener Centre. “At the very least, the federal government should be following through on its promises in each of these areas. Bring in the Canada Mental Health Transfer. Fund the Canada Disability Benefit. Listen to the calls of their own Federal Housing Advocate to address the housing crisis. And act like they understand that we’re in a climate emergency.”
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