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Some great news this week regarding Kebaowek First Nation, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area, and Sierra Club Canada's court challenge "after the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a ruling on a species-at-risk permit for the proposed Chalk River nuclear waste facility." Check out coverage of our challenge in APTN News, The Globe and Mail, Radio-Canada, and Le Devoir. Also see coverage of two new polls showing support for climate regulation in The Energy Mix and our interview with Pivot on Canada's climate targets. Below find information on our upcoming AGM and volunteer opportunities. But first...
Last week the Prime Minister said that a 'strong Canada will help Make America Great Again' and put support behind the U.S.'s 'Fortress North America.' That's not good, but also problematic is the possibility that we are measuring our own progress with U.S. 'free market' fundamentalism as a reference point. Especially since it was deregulation and wealth inequality that led the U.S. to it's current state. According to The New York Times:
"Mr. Carney said that the United States is approaching its 250th anniversary as “the most dynamic, resilient, and inventive country the world has ever seen..."
I can personally think of, at least one, other contender for that award. So, what did Canada get for the pro-MAGA messaging? The U.S. Ambassador retweeting a call from the U.S. president to annex Canada as the 51st-State. Because appeasement doesn't work, it only encourages bad actors.
Appeasement by integration with Fortress North America isn't just words. You also probably saw a lot of hype last week about an agreement between Germany and Canada (framed as if it was a sign we were diversifying trading partners). LNG is, for a number of reasons including the climate, a bad investment. But it also turns out it's not a binding agreement yet and a hollow one - for a small amount of LNG - even if it did become binding. As The Energy Mix reports:
"Unlike the federal announcement, the SEFE [German] release specifically headlined the deal as a Heads of Agreement, a contractual term more similar to a memorandum of understanding than a firm, final contract."
Ksi Lisims LNG is a perfect metaphor for everything wrong with the Federal Government's approach to sovereignty: It's a U.S.-owned project - with ties to the U.S. Administration, that Government wants to throw Canadian public funds into (that we will never get back), falsely framed as European diversification to distract us all.
Germany agreeing to maybe buy a small fraction of the LNG from the project is actually a sign the project is NOT viable - despite the hype this week around it. Canadians could very likely end up with the bill for Ksi Lisims LNG though. More to the point this taxpayer-funded oil and gas focus is not what Canadians want - especially regarding U.S. LNG projects.
I also recommend reading CRED-NB's report (PDF) on the consortium of U.S. companies (tied to the U.S. military) that currently run Canadian Nuclear Laboratories or CNL. And find out more about the continued fight against a U.S. company's gas plant in NB below.
We're going to have to work together in Canada, as we have on issues like nuclear waste, if we want sovereignty, democracy, and environmental justice. In good news: Two-thirds of Albertans say they want more wind and solar developed in or near their communities.
The De-Flooded Zone:
As the environmental law organization Ecojustice puts it, the Federal Government has been 'flooding the zone,' to cover up actions that run contrary to environmental and social justice (and also sovereignty). Here's another summary of articles and resources for you that cut through that flooding of the zone. This week:
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