LETTER

LETTRE

 Bill C-245 and Canada's climate crisis


 

It is clear that Canadians are already struggling with record heat waves, droughts, flooding, and other extreme weather conditions resulting from the climate emergency.  Indigenous, Northern, and rural communities are being disproportionately impacted, but the current government is leaving these communities to fend for themselves without supporting necessary climate resiliency efforts. 
    The fight against climate change requires many tools including the use of public ownership and investment in support of communities that are already hurting. We need to provide communities at the forefront of the fight against climate change with the tools they need to face this crisis, such as funding for fully functioning recycling programs and facilities, ensuring all homes have access to water and sewage treatment, building energy-efficient homes and alternative energy source infrastructure, helping communities transition away from diesel power, building all-weather roads, implementing fire protection and flood mitigation, and so on.
    Private Members' Bill C-245 (Federal) provides an opportunity to tackle climate change while investing in the health and well-being of our communities across the country. The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) is mandated to invest $35 billion in Canadian infrastructure projects, however, in its nearly five years of existence, it has not funded a single completed project. Bill C-245 would ensure that communities receive the funding they need to implement climate mitigation and adaptation measures through critical infrastructure projects.
    For more information on Bill C-245, go to https://nikiashton.ndp.ca/news/liberals-must-put-people-first-fight-against-climate-change 
Dez Bair-Patel
Aylmer