The Urban Rideau Conservationists are organizing in New Edinburgh a River Rideau clean-up
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Date: Sunday, May 13, 2007
Time: 10:00am - 1:00pm
Location: Field House in New Edinburgh
Street: 193 Stanley

Bring appropriate clothing.

A report was presented to the Senate on Friday the 20th that predicted a recession for Canada should Kyoto be implemented. When you read the report, you realize the Conservatives don’t know how or don’t want to implement Kyoto. They gave assumptions to the economist that would explicitly lead to a recession.

If you look at the assumptions you conlude the economists were reacting to Baird’s assumptions not Kyoto. The Protocol has mechanism to internalize pollution externalities like emission trade caps. Mr. Baird’s assumptions explicitly instructed the economist to leave that out.

Read the conclusion of the report. It says it right there in the report what assumptions were given to the economists that led to Mr. Baird’s “Kyoto the dark age” conclusions. They even say in the end Kyoto could be implemented without a recession were it not for the assumptions that were given to them in the first place:

“These and other potential ways to dramatically reduce Canada’s GHG emissions over the long-term suggest that the economic hurdles for Canada to address climate change in a significant manner can be overcome with sufficient time, and on the basis of an effective and consistent policy framework.”

Who would have the best effective and consistent policy framework? The Greens of course. We’ve been studying the question of integrating sustainability into economic policy since our very foundation in the mid-1980s.

Read also what Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu of the Toronto-Danforth Greens has to say about the report:

“I looked up electricity prices in Ontario for last month and May 2002, the earliest month available online. Over this roughly 5-year period, electricity prices have risen by 88%, whereas John Baird predicts a mere 50% increase if we meet our Kyoto obligations.

And finally, gas prices at the pump for the last 5 years have risen 87% whereas John Baird predicts a more modest 60% increase if we actually save the planet.

[...] Still, it is widely known that higher fuel efficiency standards on US cars could in fact cause dramatic price decreases at the pump. So what I’m hearing from John Baird is that he doesn’t want to save us money.”

As Jim Harris has pointed out here, here and here, a low-carbon future is good for the economy. Green Party candidates at the next elections will need to debunk the myth John Baird has created by using the very same report he is touting to the media.

Update: I found this MpTV interview by Garth Turner. Two things struck me:

• Same thing said by a Liberal: the conclusion was pre-determined with the given hypothesis.
• The assumed carbon tax was 4 times higher than what the Green Party proposed in their climate action plan.

We’re moving up our federal candidate nomination meeting to:

Wednesday, April 25, 2007, 9:00 to 9:45 p.m.
at Crichton Cultural Community Centre
200 Crichton St., 4 blocks north-west of Beechwood
(Bus routes 1, 5, 7 to the corner of Beechwood & Vanier Parkway, or
bus #3 to the Centre)

We hope you can attend:

1. to vote (if you live in Ottawa-Vanier and have been a member of the Green Party of Canada for at least 30 days before the meeting date), or
2. to express your support and/or views and ask questions of the candidates.

Nominees will have an opportunity to speak to the assembled members and to answer questions before the vote. The candidate will be selected by a preferential ballot. Please visit our Website for information on contestants.

If you wish to run for nomination, you must contact Dave Benes or James Wisener before April 24th.

Feel free to pass this message on, especially to non-members.

We are also calling on you to help the riding association of the Green Party of Canada by donating your time before and during the election, please contact Dave Benes (contact info removed). Our goal is the best election result ever for the Ottawa-Vanier Greens, we need your energy to make it happen.

David Benes, CEO
James Wisener, CFO

Ottawa-Vanier Federal Green Party Association
www.ottawavaniergreens.ca
Change politics!

The alternative to the longstanding American food policy of “cheap and lots” is to eat locally, eat seasonally and eat organic. Filmmaker Bonnie Bucqueroux and her dog Schmoopsie look at the sustainable agriculture movement, including a visit to Michigan State University’s Student Organic Farm, where Dr. John Biernbaum discusses the options people have to grow their own food or to buy from local growers.

Good afternoon global warming activists,

We write to you with this urgent message today in the hopes that
you’ll get involved with three upcoming actions taking place in Ottawa
over the next 2 weeks.

1. action in front of John Baird’s constituency office Fri. Apr. 13th
at 8 a.m. (more details included below)
2. sleepover at Stephen Harper’s house at 24 Sussex Drive on Sunday,
April 15 at 6 p.m. (more details included below)
3. a one-thousand person rally on Parliament Hill on Earth Day, Sun.
Apr. 22 at 2 p.m. (more details included below)

(more…)