The conference room applause faded as Chief Roy Jones Jr. walked on stage to address the Natural Resource Summit, hosted by the National Coalition of Chiefs.
“I just have one question for anybody. Is there any Liberals out here?” he asked the crowd.
A split second silence gave way to laughter from the crowd — a mix of Indigenous leaders and representatives from Canada’s oil and gas sector.
“Come on, don’t be afraid to show yourself because we’re going to send a message to Trudeau with ya,” he, and the crowd, laughed.
NDP must push minority Parliament to accelerate transition to a green economy
The federal election results suggest that the first priority of the NDP must be electoral reform to bring to an end the politics of fear and the strategic vote, which favours the Liberals and Conservatives alike.
By some estimates, “the price of oil could permanently plummet to $25 a barrel by the mid-2020s. Only the cheapest oil in places like Saudi Arabia could be economically produced. Canada's oil sands, where most projects need an oil price of $60 to $80 a barrel just to break even, would cease to make financial sense.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he heard loud and clear the message Canadians sent in the federal election for him to be bolder about climate change action.
Now young Canadians want him to prove it.
Twenty-seven youth with the group Our Time were arrested in the House of Commons on Monday morning after attempting to stage a sit-in to demand a Canadian "green new deal" be the first priority of all 338 MPs elected last week.
Amani Khalfan gives a hearty laugh when she's asked what she thinks of Canada’s election results.
As a coordinator for Extinction Rebellion (XR) in Ottawa, Khalfan finds it difficult to see much daylight between the promises made by Canada’s federal political parties — even between those on the left.
“No political parties, even the NDP or Greens, have committed to acting as quickly as needed to reduce global emissions, and (ban) new fossil fuel infrastructure,” she told National Observer.
The second On Fire book club conversation: Labour Organizing, Strikes, and the Green New Deal. Yesterday, we were joined by Meredith Whittaker, Lauren Burke, Raj Patel, and Deena Ladd for a captivating conversation about building worker power across silos: from bridging the divide between unionized and non-unionized workers, to connecting climate justice with other struggles.
