 
Bold and urgent action required
to curb Canada’s greenhouse gas emission
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Ottawa ON
K1A 0A3
September 19, 2006
Re: Bold and urgent action required to curb Canada’s greenhouse
gas emissions
Dear Prime Minister Harper:
As your government prepares to announce its Green Plan, we strongly
urge you to take bold action to reduce drastically our country’s
release of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) into the common atmosphere
of our planet.
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives is a coalition
of eleven major Canadian churches and church-related organizations.
We have repeatedly expressed our concerns about Canada’s and
Canadians’ environmental performance, and our reasonable hope
that we can live more justly and sustainably on the Earth. KAIROS
believes that whatever we do reflects our true regard for God and
one another. We seek to honour our Creator by acting personally
and collectively to protect God’s Creation.
We are convinced by the best science available, confirmed by the
experiences of our brothers and sisters around the world, that climate
change poses a grave threat to vulnerable people in Canada and globally
and to habitats of many species. Recent disturbing information from
the Arctic region, parts of Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North
American coastlines are signs that the climate is changing.
The prevailing scientific conclusion from reports such as the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 3rd Report in 2001, and more recent
work, is that unless we hold the increase in Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
to below 450 parts per million, and the earth’s average temperature
increase to below 2°C, we are headed for danger we cannot fully
predict.
KAIROS urges our government to act in Canada and internationally
to reduce GHGs to pre-1990 levels; to mitigate against the effects
of the onset of climate change; and, where damage has already been
done, to assist the people and environments affected.
As Canadians, we expect our leaders to act with integrity, responsibility,
accountability and justice to faithfully uphold the public trust.
Integrity demands that we implement our international agreements
to lower our GHG emissions, and keep the promises that Canada made
in the Kyoto Protocol.
Responsibility demands that we protect the vulnerable and
the environment, and that we actually lower our own GHGs, increase
funding to clean and safe energy sources, and provide humanitarian
assistance as needed to adversely affected communities.
Accountability demands an end to wavering and complacency.
Canada must immediately put in place regulations, mechanisms and
measures to ensure industry, governments, energy providers, energy
suppliers, as well as consumers contribute to changing our fossil
fuel reliant behaviours, and shift to sustainable energy sources.
Justice demands concerted action over partisan political
agendas. We urge you to do what is right for the health of all life
on Earth, present and future generations.
Effectiveness demands an immediate national strategy with
concrete solutions to the major aspects of climate change affecting
Canada and the world.
Faithfulness to the public trust and Canadian values demands
that our government demonstrate leadership and model equity and
fairness in the world community. Please do not water down or abandon
hard won agreements like Kyoto.
KAIROS asks that our government:
- reinforce and deepen targets for emissions reductions
- regulate emissions from industry
- speed up the transition to a green energy economy
- strengthen, not weaken the Canadian Environmental Protection
Act’s provisions for the regulation of excessive carbon
dioxide as a pollutant
- offer incentives for business and ordinary Canadians to change
our behaviour
- fund initiatives that move us away from fossil fuels and energy
waste toward clean, renewable energy and energy conservation.
We pledge to do our part by educating Canadians and promoting environmental
stewardship through energy efficiency for religious buildings and
communities. I invite you to read the attached Spiritual declaration
signed by over 2000 people of all faiths on December 4, 2006 at
St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal and presented to the United
Nations Conference.
Let us as Canadians live justly, humbly and in right relation with
creation and our Creator.
I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Fr. Paul Hansen CsSR
Chairperson
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