rabble.ca Canadian federal election blog

It’s the economy and the environment, stupid.

By Andrea Harden-Donahue

The economy and ‘leadership’ are fast becoming central issues in this election. Faced with bad economic news south of the border and talk of a recession, the urgency of taking immediate action to combat climate change is taking a back seat. Although Harper is weak on the economy – as a number of other rabble election blogs have pointed out – this dynamic is to his advantage. Surely a heated election debate on climate change would expose the Conservatives’ plans for ‘emissions intensity targets’ as providing little assurance that emissions will actually decrease and Harper’s record of obstructing progress for global action on climate change (Harper once referred to the Kyoto Accord as a socialist scheme).

To be strong on the economy one must be strong on the environment. Not taking swift, decisive action on climate change will incur ruinous economic consequences, an undeniable statement reinforced by the Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change. Written by Sir Nicolas Stern, the report likens the impacts of global warming on the world economy – if unchecked – to that of the world wars and the Great Depression. The report concludes that the economic costs of climate change will be the equivalent of losing at least 5 per cent up to 20 or more per cent of global GDP each year – now and forever. The costs of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding the worst impacts are predicted to be around 1 per cent of global GDP each year. Like the findings of the Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change, the Stern report affirms that climate change will affect basic necessities such as access to water and food production for hundreds of millions of people; “The most vulnerable – the poorest countries and populations – will suffer earliest and most, even though they have contributed least to the causes of climate change.” It’s not all bad news. The IPCC reports and the Stern report insist that a better world is possible, but that we must chose to act now.

The truth of the matter is that we either pay now, or we pay later. We invest and prioritize policies towards greater energy efficiency of fossil fuel resources, greatly improve conservation efforts and a just transition to a less carbon intense society, or must face the consequences of inaction. In order to do so, we need to question pro free-market policies that tie the hands of governments and prioritize profit-driven interests.

Let’s make sure that Canada does not buy into the ‘pay later’ game that jeopardizes the futures of Canadians and people around the world.

Andrea Harden-Donahue is the Energy Campaigner for the Council of Canadians.