With the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that any rise in global average temperature above 1.5 C will mean losing our hospitable biosphere, Sudbury Green Party candidate Bill Crumplin is calling for bold and decisive action.

“The Green Party has a 20-step plan to aggressively lower greenhouse gas emissions,” he said in a release. “The plan recognizes the transition to the green economy will be disruptive and calls for no worker to be left behind. Our plan lays out a new deal for Canada – with a laser-like focus on reducing emissions.”

Mission Possible: The Green Climate Action Plan was released last week in Ottawa by Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May and newly elected Green MP Paul Manly (Nanaimo-Ladysmith).

It is a plan to re-establish Canada as a global leader in the green economy. The plan calls for reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, and zero net emissions by 2050.

“Canadians from coast to coast to coast are demanding real leadership and action on climate change,” Crumplin said. “Climate change and the need to reduce emissions is an issue on which I have been engaged for the better part of the last three decades. I understand that Sudbury will face the risks of a changing climate, including more frequent and intense forest fires and flooding events. If we want to leave our children and grandchildren a world in which they can thrive and do better than us, we have to do our part to get the chemistry of the planet under control by first restraining and then eliminating carbon pollution.”

Mission Possible calls for:

Modernizing the east-west electricity grid to ensure that renewable energy can be transmitted from one province to another.

Creating millions of new, well-paying jobs in the trades by retrofitting every building in Canada.

Banning fracking, without exception, as fracking contaminates ecosystems and groundwaters.

Prioritizing adaptation by investing significant resources in adaptation measures to protect Canadian resource sectors such as agriculture, fishing and forestry from the consequences of climate change.

“As Greens, we’re not running against the other parties,” Crumplin said. “We’re running for the future – a cleaner, more socially just future. The Green Party’s climate action plan provides a framework for significant and immediate action.

“But we need Greens in Parliament to spur action in our government. If we Greens are running against anything in the October election, it’s the clock. We are running out of time to take meaningful action on the climate crisis.”

sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @SudburyStar