Canada’s natural resources are a tremendous blessing and, managed properly and sustainably, can be important drivers for our economy. This is particularly true of the energy sector. But instead of guiding our energy policy in the best interest of Canadian jobs, the economy and the environment, Stephen Harper’s government has gutted assessments and reviews and failed to address citizens’ valid concerns, exacerbating opposition to energy development right across the country.

Social licence — the consent of Canadians for the development of Canada’s resources — is crucial to the success of any project. I had experience with this first-hand when I was the minister of environment in Quebec and put in place Quebec’s Sustainable Development Act, which requires government to look at environmental, social and economic impacts before going forward with any development project.

This remains the most comprehensive legislation of its kind in North America. I championed this approach not simply because it was the right thing to do, but because history has shown that taking the time to get development right can prevent devastating environmental damage.

Proposed pipeline projects, such as TransCanada’s Energy East or Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, simply will not obtain the social licence they require without having a rigorous review process in place to ensure environmental sustainability, community partnership and long-term prosperity of our economic development.

New Democrats believe that both our conventional and renewable resources must be developed responsibly. We understand the need to move away from our overreliance on fossil fuels and have a vision for development that promotes economic growth and job creation, hand in hand with social and environmental sustainability.

Pipeline projects done properly can benefit our country — but not when they ship our jobs away alongside our raw resources, present unacceptable risks to our environment, or leave future generations of Canadians bearing the long-term environmental, economic and social legacy costs. This is why we oppose the Keystone XL pipeline — which risks exporting up to 40,000 potential well-paid jobs to the U.S. — and why we stood up firmly to the Northern Gateway pipeline, which threatens B.C’s sensitive north coast.

New Democrats support increasing west-east capacity, which would make Canadian energy security a top priority and assist with maintaining and creating high-paying, value-added refining jobs here at home. We have also been clear that, unlike Liberals and Conservatives, we will never rubber-stamp pipeline projects.

We have said that: major resource projects must be judged on their merits after a thorough and credible review process; assessment criteria must include the impact of each individual project on our emissions and climate change commitments, on Canadian jobs and on national and regional energy security; public consultations must be credible and democratic, not shallow, limited or paper-only; and projects must honour our legal obligations to First Nations.

Unfortunately, Conservatives have systematically dismantled environmental protections, arbitrarily limited the National Energy Board’s reviews and severely restricted public input. A government like this — that steadfastly refuses to tackle climate change — cannot be trusted with stewardship of our environment.

A New Democratic government will chart a different course and put the right to a clean environment into law.

We will respect the polluter pay principle and rise to meet our international climate change obligations by putting a price on carbon.

We will eliminate the billion-dollar subsidies to the fossil-fuel industry and reinvest this money in environmentally sustainable initiatives.

We will enforce emissions limits and enact Jack Layton’s Climate Change Accountability Act — to do Canada’s part to keep global temperature rise below two degrees Celsius.

We will make these changes understanding that, in the short to medium term, oil will continue to play a significant role in our economy and our daily lives.

In the meantime, New Democrats will participate in public hearings on pipelines in order to voice the concerns of so many citizens who are raising valid questions about these projects’ environmental and economic impacts.‎

Throughout consultations and public debate on Northern Gateway, Keystone XL, the reversal of Line 9B, Trans Mountain and now Energy East, the NDP has been the one party holding the Conservatives to account for their attacks on environmental protections, demanding broader consultations and making substantial official submissions to the review processes.

The stakes are high and those of us who seek to govern must answer the question: What kind of world do we want to leave to future generations?

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Will it be a greener world, built on a foundation of economic and environmental sustainability, or one built on no vision at all — where all that we leave to future generations is the cleanup costs for the messes we left behind?

Tom Mulcair is the leader of Canada’s NDP and the Leader of the official Opposition.

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