Progress with Climate Change Legislation

Today I stand up to applaud the opposition parties in Canada for dragging Steven Harper and his Conservative cronies kicking and screaming into the reality of climate change.  On May 5th the third vote on bill C-311, The New Democrat Climate Change Accountability Act passed in the House of Commons by a vote of 149 to 136.  Finally Canada is not lagging behind in implementing legislation to deal with climate change and its inevitable effect on our country.  The David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace, Sierra Club of Canada and Climate Action Network have all worked towards this bill passing and support the measures it introduces.   Some of the measure that this bill puts forward:

• Cuts greenhouse gas emissions – 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050
• Mandates the government to set regulations that ensure targets are met
• Punishes polluters who break regulations
• Ensures government accountability with publicized 5 year target plans
• Establishes independent reviews to ensure government measures reach targets

The work is not over though.  This legislation now has to pass a Senate vote.   This is a crucial time in the process since in 2008 the Senate was set to debate and vote on the bill just before Harper called an election which killed it in its tracks.  It is so important that we keep a watch on this because the Senate has 105 seats 51 of which belong to Conservatives, 49 Liberals and 3 Independent/others.  If the Conservative Senators all side with Harper and they have just 2 Liberals or others on their side this could not pass.  The House of Commons and the Senate must "agree" on legislation for it to pass.  Here is a list of senators in Canada I urge everyone to contact any and/or all of them to get action on this bill.  I will be letting my voice be heard on this issue.  I feel that it is my duty as a mother and a human living on this good earth.

Democracy lives here.  Let's make sure it's working!
And if you'd like to devote 8 minutes of your life to watch democracy in action take a look at this.