“You guys were amazing,” Canada’s former environment minister Catherine McKenna told the 2024 Citizens Climate Lobby-Canada conference, held recently in Ottawa.
According to McKenna, input from CCL-Canada played an important role in shaping the federal government’s carbon tax with rebate system.
Since 2014, this writer has attended several CCL-Canada conferences. At least two other North Thompson Valley residents have attended them as well.
CCL’s primary focus is carbon fee-and-dividend: charging a fee on fossil fuels, similar to a carbon tax, and then returning the revenue to everyone as equal dividends, similar to a universal basic income.
McKenna said the government needed ideas from the people, not from above. As recommended by CCL-Canada, it is important to return the money collected by the carbon tax as rebates. Unfortunately, the government has not done a good job of informing people about this.
McKenna did not agree with those who say we should abandon the carbon tax and find easier ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels. She is a former competitive swimmer who did not win medals by taking the easy route.
“Hard things are hard,” she said.
Senator Rosa Galvez spoke about the Climate Aligned Finance Act (CAFA) she tabled in the Senate two years ago. Her bill would help ensure that Canada’s financial sector – the banks, pension plans, and insurance companies – is prepared for the challenges of climate change.
Other speakers included Leah Temper, PhD, and Dr. Sehjal Bargava, who spoke about a private member’s bill put forward by longtime NDP MP Charlie Angus that would ban fossil fuel advertising. I personally think something like the Fairness Doctrine the American FCC used to have would be better. Under it, for every four pro-tobacco ads a radio or television station broadcast, it had to broadcast one anti-smoking ad for free.
Robert, an 11-year-old with his own YouTube channel to fight climate change and who addressed the COP15 Biodiversity delegation in Montreal, gave a speech that gave hope for future generations.
Economists Chris Ragan and David Robinson spoke about the advantages of carbon taxes and rebates, while Ross Astoria from CCL-USA talked about using tariffs to protect heavy industry from unfair competition from nations without a carbon price.
The conference also included a giant Dreamcatcher event on the lawn in front of the Parliament buildings organized by Indigenous artist Will Morin. The main message of the event seemed to be that everything is connected.