CRC offers suggestions to beef up 'tepid' Clean Air Act

Sr. Donna Geernaert

By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

The president of the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) has offered the environment minister suggestions on how to beef up the Clean Air Act, legislation she describes as "tepid."

"When Canada signed the Kyoto Protocol, we were proud and we saw it as a hopeful document that had the potential to wake us up to the seriousness of our situation," wrote Sister Donna Geernaert in a Nov. 13 letter to Environment Minister Rona Ambrose.

Where's Kyoto?

"That Kyoto is not even mentioned in your 'Clean Air Act' is disturbing and indicates that from your perspective we can act more slowly. We could not disagree more."

Speaking on behalf of the CRC's 22,000 members, Geernaert, a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (Halifax), stressed that no country can act in isolation regarding the global problem of climate change.

Religious congregations working in the developing world have seen first hand the devastating effects of climate change on thousands of environmental refugees, she said.

The poorest people are the most vulnerable to these effects, she said. "Cutting greenhouse gas emissions is for us a spiritual as well as a moral and ethical issue," she wrote.

Suggestions

While Geernaert recognized meeting the Kyoto target of a six per cent reduction from 1990 levels would be demanding, she offered three suggestions that could produce an immediate lessening of greenhouse gases in Canada.

The first is the development of a comprehensive public transportation plan, both within and between cities. "We as a nation must reduce our dependency on oil and a good public transportation system is one way to make that more possible."

The second is to improve on existing programs offering rebates and subsidies for Canadians to participate in programs to achieve greater energy efficiency, from the refitting of old buildings to experiments in alternative sources of energy.

The third is to "continue to call on Canadians individually to make a difference," through switching to energy efficient light bulbs, driving less and other methods.

"Unfortunately, tepid bills like the Clean Air Act do not send the signal to us as ordinary citizens that the Conservative government sees the environment as a priority," Geernaert wrote. "In fact, cutting such programs as the 'One Ton Challenge' sent a countersign. "We are more than willing to do our part as Canadian citizens to reduce the negative impact of greenhouse gas emissions. We also want our Canadian government to enact policies which reflect the best of who we are as global citizens."

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