Dear Editor,
MP Alex Ruff may have signed it, but he didn’t write that letter. Pierre Poilievre didn’t write it either.
That was written by Fossil Fuel Industry lobbyists years ago and has been repeated endlessly by Conservatives ever since. That started before Alex Ruff showed up and will continue long after he’s gone. They’re the same lobbyists who tried to convince us that smoking can’t harm us, chemicals in our drinking water won’t kill us, and your kid can’t get lung cancer if he breathes your two packs a day in the house and car.
Lobbyists. Paid to keep the fossil fuel money rolling in. And damn the consequences.
Scientists screamed for 40 years that every 0.01% reduction in CO2 emissions is critical. Who would think Canadian voters are dumb enough to believe “Canada’s global emissions could go to 0%, and hardly anything would change without serious commitments from the top three emitters.”?
1) Canada taking responsibility for our pollution has absolutely nothing to do with what any other country does with theirs. They are not connected in any way. Stop trying to connect them! Canadians own their own problems. Canadians do not shirk their duty. Stop passing the buck! (That one line in the letter was the most un-Canadian thing I’ve read in your paper. Who approved that message? Donald Trump?)
2) The difference between 100% and 98.5% in this case is huge. 0.01% is important. 1.5% would make a huge difference to the world. Stop pretending otherwise! (My granddaughters know 98.5 is less than 100. And what a “change” is. What “less” means.)
3) Whether you burn coal or Liquified Natural Gas it produces CO2. There is no difference. CO2 doesn’t “care” where it came from. I can supply the chemical equations if Mr. Ruff can’t find them. He’s proposing we decrease GHGs – by making identical GHGs – out of another fossil fuel? My grandsons know that you don’t create less of something by making more of it. I can tell you that drilling/shipping LNG always leaks. Often a lot. And escaped (not burned) LNG is far worse for Climate Change than burning coal is. (Especially when fracking for the LNG) Stop touting LNG as a replacement for coal! They’re BOTH fossil fuels! That’s unscientific nonsense! We’re not idiots! (Just 5 days ago Germany warned Canada it doesn’t want or need more LNG from Canada. That dog won’t hunt, Mr. Ruff. The Germans know where CO2 comes from.)
4) The complete list of “technology, not taxes” solutions known to work at the required scale is currently a blank sheet of paper. Climate Change is an urgent “right now” problem. Do you have anything that doesn’t require wishes on a star or the use of magic wands to offer us Mr. Ruff? You’re proposing we do nothing unless you do.
Given our proud history as a country it is humiliating to hear Alex Ruff repeat this stuff all the time.
Canada has never been a “You go first” country and doesn’t need Conservatives telling us to be one now.
Take WW2. The last huge threat to the globe and its inhabitants.
Canadian troops didn’t sit safely in their boats and tell the Allied Forces “You guys give us a shout when you’ve taken Normandy. We’ll start our boats and join you then. You go first.”
Climate Change is the greatest threat we’ve ever faced and is the most important battle humanity will wage. Casualties will be measured in the hundreds of millions if we don’t succeed.
Instead of demanding Canada take responsibility for Canada’s problems and do our part (or more) to save the world, why is Alex Ruff sitting safely in his “boat” pointing fingers at the USA, China, and India? Saying “You go first.”
Alex Ruff wants to throw out the most effective proven weapon the world has to fight Climate Change. By killing the Carbon Tax. We’re facing our biggest battle ever and Mr. Ruff isn’t just hiding in his boat with nothing to offer and avoiding getting involved. He’s sabotaging the boat’s engine too. While pointing at others and repeating his Party’s line.
“You go first.”
Mr. Ruff’s Party has no plans to fight Climate Change. None. Their only plan will make it worse. The Conservative Party’s official stance on Climate Change can be summed up in just one word:
Cowardice.
There was a time when Conservative politicians weren’t terrified to ask Canadians to sacrifice to achieve important goals. We need politicians with the guts to tell their constituents the truth right now. Telling people “Why should you have to make a tiny bit of sacrifice just to save the planet and the people on it? We’ll tell everyone else to deal with our pollution. We’ll lie about the Carbon Tax, claiming it doesn’t work (despite the data proving it works all over the world – as predicted). You won’t even have to feel bad about yourself!” doesn’t take a whole lot of courage now, does it? Quite the opposite in fact.
Conservatives need to stop telling Canadians it’s OK to sit this fight out. We aren’t as selfish as Mr. Ruff wants us to be. Remember – our allies have always relied on Canada to fight when it counted. It really counts now. Don’t let Mr. Ruff change that. Don’t let Alex Ruff convince you we should sit this one out – and hope no one notices we’re doing it.
It’s past time to stand up for what really matters Mr. Ruff. If you won’t do it, step aside, and let the people with the guts to do it get to work on the problem.
Bruce Mason, Meaford
