OTTAWA — The Green Party of Canada is calling on the Trudeau cabinet to reject a proposal by Teck Resources to develop a giant open-pit oil sands mine in Alberta.
“Going ahead with construction of the Frontier mine would contribute six megatons of CO2 per year from production alone,” said Green Party Interim Leader Jo-Ann Roberts. “This would seriously compromise our ability to reach the emissions reduction targets set out in the Paris Agreement.”
Green Party Parliamentary Leader Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands), is part of the Canadian delegation attending COP25 in Madrid, where she joined Indigenous elders and youth protesting against the Teck mine project yesterday.
“There is absolutely no wiggle room in the global carbon budget for any kind of expansion of oil and gas production,” said Ms. May. “The Liberal minority government is still threatening to go ahead with the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which they approved the day after declaring a climate emergency.
“The science is clear. We have to keep the global average temperature to 1.5 degrees C if we want to avoid catastrophic global warming. Any expansion of oil and gas production will take us beyond 2 degrees C. It is simply unacceptable to even consider going ahead with the Teck Frontier project.”
A recent report by the Global Gas and Oil Network notes that over the next five years, oil and gas companies plan to invest at levels that would lock in more than 2 degrees C of warming.
“In addition to crippling our efforts to reign in greenhouse gas emissions, the joint provincial-federal review panel found that this project would have significant adverse effects on Indigenous communities,” said Paul Manly, Green MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith.
“Yet there are First Nations communities downstream from this mine whose interests were not represented in the review panel process because they are not in Alberta. The Frontier mine will also destroy habitats of endangered species, including the boreal caribou. That is absolutely unacceptable when we know that Canada is experiencing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity.”
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For more information, or to arrange an interview contact:
Rosie Emery
Press Secretary
613-562-4916x206
rosie.emery@greenparty.ca