Instructions for emailing
Thank you for taking the time to write to West Vancouver - Sea to Sky - Sunshine Coast Member of Parliament, Patrick Weiler regarding your concerns about the federal government’s accountability to the climate crisis and the need to move urgently toward a Just Transition for our country.
This template is to be used as either a direct cut and paste or a starting point for a letter of your own. Please feel free to cut and paste the text below into a new email message, to edit the text and language as appropriate for your perspective and style, and to reflect whether you are writing on behalf of an individual or an organization.
Once you’re ready, emails to Patrick can be addressed to: [email protected].
If possible, please cc: For Our Kids Sunshine Coast ([email protected]) and Sunshine Coast Climate Action Network ([email protected]) to help us track all the messages going to Patrick. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Jen, Krisdy, and Sally at the For Our Kids email above. You can also find us at: https://www.forourkids.ca/sunshine_coast or follow FOK on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/387094242931439 and follow SCCAN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/436413457413431
Given the current context - the formation of a new, minority government and the lead up to COP26 - the For our Kids Sunshine Coast team decided to support similar demands for a Just Transition Legislation for Canada as outlined by the Council of Canadians. We will also be delivering a signed petition to Patrick Weiler with the same demands as our letter below. We will need 25 physical signatures, if you’re interested in signing, please email us at [email protected].
See the full Just Transition campaign here: https://canadians.org/action/justtransitionletter. We reference the Council of Canadians in the email as well.
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Email Template
Dear Patrick Weiler MP,
Congratulations on your success in reclaiming your seat for our West Vancouver - Sea to Sky - Sunshine Coast riding in the 2021 federal election. I appreciate that you have dedicated your time and expertise to supporting Indigenous land rights in the ongoing fight against the Trans Mountain Pipeline and to improving climate legislation in Canada. It is clear that you understand the issues facing communities across Canada and right here at home in BC as we face the greatest challenge of our times: climate change. As such, I am eager to see you bring big and bold action to address the climate crisis in the coming weeks and months.
In our riding alone this past year we’ve experienced record-setting drought and a drawn-out water shortage that threatened to turn off the taps (and livelihoods) for local farmers in the region. The unprecedented heat dome resulted in hundreds of human deaths, particularly in our most marginalized communities, and caused billions of sea creatures to perish. Elsewhere in the province, an entire town burned to the ground. This is not business as usual and, while our communities’ galvanized to save farmers' crops and stop wildfires from spreading during these severe events, the problem is simply too big to continue to be mitigated community by community.
We need to stop working on the margins of this problem and acknowledge - as the IPCC reported this past year - that this is Code Red for the planet and Code Red for humanity. The future of our children, grandchildren and future generations all hang in the balance. As such, as your constituent, I call on you and the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada to enact Just Transition Legislation, as laid out by the Council of Canadians as soon as possible. This legislation:
- Reduces emissions by at least 60% below 2005 levels by 2030, and makes significant contributions to emissions reductions in countries in the Global South. We expect transparency and accountability on emission reductions on an annual basis.
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Winds down the fossil fuel industry and related infrastructure, ends fossil fuel subsidies, and transitions to a decarbonized economy.
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Creates new public economic institutions and expands public ownership of services and utilities across the economy to implement the transition.
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Upholds UNDRIP and respects Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and knowledge by including them in creating and implementing this legislation.
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Creates good green jobs and drives inclusive workforce development, led by and including affected workers and communities, and ensures decent, low-carbon work for all workers.
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Protects and strengthens human rights and worker rights, ensures migrant justice, and emphasizes support for historically marginalized communities.
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Expands the social safety net through new income supports, decarbonized public housing, and operational funding for affordable and accessible public transit countrywide.
- Pays for the transition by increasing taxes on the wealthiest and corporations and financing through a public national bank.
A recent study in Nature indicates that in order to meet the Paris Climate target of 1.5 degrees of warming, 60% of the world’s remaining oil and gas reserves must remain in the ground. I am not convinced our federal government is responding adequately to the urgency of the climate crisis, as it continues to subsidize the fossil fuel industry, waters down climate accountability legislation and continues with the building of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. We are not on the right track.
Many parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and caregivers across your riding are facing the reality that we will be raising our children to enter adulthood in a world that is almost unlivable in many parts due to climate change. It is daunting to think about how we are going to tackle this enormous problem, but I believe that enacting a Just Transition Legislation right now is our best chance for making the changes necessary in our society in order to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change and to build towards a more livable future for generations to come.
I appreciate that you are working hard to address these monumental climate issues and that you are willing to listen to the concerns of your constituents. You can count on my voice and my support when you show up for real climate action in Ottawa. We are all counting on you!
I would appreciate hearing back from you on your process of enacting the Just Transition Legislation.
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