TAKING ACTION FOR A GREENER WORLD – TWO CHANCES TO MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE
Green Neighbours 21
Monday, February 7, 7:00-9:00 pm
Fighting global warming means more than changing our homes and lifestyles – we also need to get politically involved. Come and learn about two urgent citizen’s action campaigns and what we can do to support them.
1. Franz Hartman (Toronto Environmental Alliance): “Saving Transit City – What We’re Doing and How You Can Help”
2. Cheryl McNamara (Citizens Climate Lobby) and Lauryn Drainie (Climate Action Network): “Ending Canada’s Fossil Fuel Subsidy – How We can Make it Happen”
Location: St Michael and all Angels Church
(southeast corner of St. Clair and Wychwood, enter off Wychwood, through wooden gate, top floor)
Citizens call upon the Canadian government to end tax breaks/subsidy to fossil fuels
Let's kick-start 2011 by getting the government to end tax breaks to dirty fuels!
We are only weeks away from the 2011 federal budget and the federal government continues to give billions of dollars in tax breaks to the companies producing oil and gas in Canada. Analysis shows a total of $1.4 billion per year in federal tax breaks alone, with a disproportionate share going to dirty fuels such as the Alberta Tar Sands.
For more information on the federal government’s tax breaks to dirty fuels:
1. Climate Action Network Canada’s report: Fuelling the Problem, why it is time to end tax breaks to oil and gas companies in Canada
2. An open letter to PM Harper and Minister Flaherty calling for an end to tax breaks to dirty fuels.
Over 90 Canadian civil society organizations have signed-on demanding that the Government honour it’s G20 commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
Let's find out where every MP in the country stands on this issue and make sure we are putting pressure on in the right places.
The first step is easy – Call, e-mail, or meet with your MP and find out one simple thing: Do they support ending the giveaway of over a billion dollars a year to oil companies?
The second step is even easier – let us know where your MP stands by sending us an email, and let others know how it went on our Facebook page. From here we can build a map and figure out where we need the most pressure.
Please pass this on to your lists and friends!
Here are a few helpful lines:
End subsidies for dirty fuels!
Canadian companies in the business of extracting oil made billions of dollars in profit last year. So why does our government annually give the fossil fuel industry $1 billion?
If lawmakers in Ottawa are looking for ways to reduce spending, it seems that subsidies to the oil, coal and gas industries are the best place to start.
Scientists are warning that we face disastrous consequences unless we reduce greenhouse gas emissions that come from burning fossil fuels. By subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, the Canadian government is delaying the conversion to clean energy that’s needed to stabilize the Earth’s climate.
Canadian taxpayers should not be giving money to highly profitable corporations. When the federal government passes a new budget in March, these subsidies for dirty fuels must come to an end. By doing so, Canada will meet its 2009 commitment made in Pittsburgh, along with other G20 leaders, to phase out subsidies and tax breaks to companies producing oil, gas and coal.
