New_C5_June_2025_Senate | Sierra Club Canada

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Subject: Senators, Amend Bill C-5 to Respect Free, Prior, and Informed Consent and to Safeguard our Climate

Dear Senators,

I have watched as our world becomes ever more unlivable for people and wildlife, as wildfires and floods devastate people’s homes and communities. I have watched as climate survivors in Canada made their way to Ottawa to call upon you to take climate action (1). As a concerned citizen I am not alone. 67% of Canadians now prefer renewable and clean energy development instead of oil and gas development and fewer than 1 in 5 Canadians want their tax dollars going to largely foreign-owned companies to build more LNG projects. 

72% of Albertans wish to maintain or increase federal climate action and action to transition the country to clean energy (Abacus Data poll June 2025 2, Léger poll May 2025 3).

We know from disastrous examples like the Sydney Tar Ponds what happens when the health of people and the environment are disregarded.
 
As a result I am calling upon you to amend Bill C-5 to ensure that:

- Any project which holds Canada back from meeting our climate goals is ineligible to be considered in our national interest, 
- Any project must have the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of impacted Indigenous communities to be considered in the national interest, and
- That Bill C-5 must not allow projects to circumvent important federal environmental statutes like the Species at Risk Act, the Fisheries Act, or upcoming regulations like the emissions cap on corporate oil and gas emissions.
- That in the race to harmonize rules for goods and labour in Canada there is not a “race to the bottom” on rules for toxins and pollution that communities have fought hard to establish. 

I am watching now as checks and balances intended to safeguard democracy and the environment in the United States are eroded. I will not let the same thing happen in Canada. 

We cannot protect our sovereignty by making the same mistakes, no matter how well intentioned. We cannot claim to care about sovereignty while denying the right of Indigenous communities to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. 

There are already enough oil and gas projects underway to meet global demand and global demand for oil and gas is set to peak this decade and then decline (4,5,6). We can turn Canada into a renewable energy superpower — not a petrostate that will get left behind as the world rapidly transitions to renewable energy.

True nation building looks like:

- A modernized, east-west electricity grid connecting Canadians with clean, reliable power—reducing emissions, lowering costs, and ensuring energy independence.

- High speed rail, starting with high-speed rail links between Calgary and Edmonton, and Windsor and Quebec, built in partnership with Indigenous Nations. This will unlock new corridors of economic activity while cutting pollution.

- Expanded public transit services to serve rural and remote communities that have, for too long, been left out in the cold regarding affordable, sustainable, and safe ways to get around.

- Building new, energy efficient homes on a massive scale using durable low-carbon building materials made in Canada and investing in heat pump manufacturing or assembly plants which will create thousands of new jobs.  

- Investing in the solar, wind, geothermal, and storage projects that communities want, located in places that avoid sensitive ecosystems and species and respect the ecological limits of ecosystems already strained by past industrialization.

- Restoration of nature and regenerative agriculture to ensure our relationship with nature is restored and our food systems are resilient and a vibrant youth climate and nature corps to engage the next generation in these efforts.

Amend Bill C-5 now.

Sources:

1. https://www.protectwhatwelove.ca/ 
2. https://cleanenergycanada.org/poll-two-thirds-of-canadians-favour-developing-clean-energy-over-fossil-fuels-while-85-wish-to-maintain-or-increase-federal-climate-action/
3. https://cape.ca/press_release/fewer-than-2-in-10-canadians-want-their-tax-dollars-going-to-largely-foreign-owned-companies-to-build-more-lng-projects/
4. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/30/no-need-for-countries-to-issue-new-oil-gas-or-coal-licences-study-finds
5. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-demand-set-peak-by-2029-major-supply-glut-looms-iea-says-2024-06-12/
6. https://www.ft.com/partnercontent/gas-outlook/gas-demand-to-peak-this-decade.html 

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Postal Code]