Joyce Murray

Ottawa locks in emissions with delays in carbon rules, agency warns

Joyce Murray — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:48:03 +0000

This is very ’1984′! The National Roundtable on the Economy and Environment members are all Conservative appointees, with the mandate to bring forward constructive analysis and recommendations that include economy and environment perspectives. In an Orwellian move Stephen Harper has guillotined this respected organization, which has served the public interest since the Mulroney days, because the NRTEE concluded that pricing carbon is the most cost effective way to achieve this Conservative government’s own climate change goals! — Joyce

Ottawa locks in emissions with delays in carbon rules, agency warns

HEATHER SCOFFIELD
OTTAWA— The Canadian Press

Delays in regulating greenhouse-gas emissions mean Canada is quickly locking in old-fashioned infrastructure that will fill the air with carbon for decades to come, new research shows.

The longer the federal government waits to clamp down on emissions and business continues as usual, the more difficult and costly it becomes to meet environmental targets, the research concludes.

These findings come from the soon-to-be-defunct National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, the federally funded advisory group formed to give advice and research on sustainable development.

The Harper government is in the process of abolishing the agency.

It’s likely the first time analysts have measured the country’s shrinking room to manoeuvre as a result of investments made while businesses wait for governments to crack down on emissions.

The research also shows that electricity could be the salvation, as long as that sector can attract huge investment.

The research will be included in one of the advisory body’s final reports to be published in a few weeks, but was presented by the round table’s president, David McLaughlin, at a conference earlier this month. His slide presentation was obtained by The Canadian Press.

“We have said consistently that delay is costly,” Mr. McLaughlin said. Now, he says, the research shows just how costly.

His charts and graphs show that as Ottawa waits to implement regulations on emitters, investment in coal, oil, gas, electricity and buildings will be guided by the high-emission standards which have been the norm.

The effects could be felt for decades, since the life-span of much infrastructure is about 40 years – compounding the stock of emissions already in the atmosphere.

So any infrastructure built after the new regulations eventually come into place will have to be extra-efficient in order to make up for the delays of the past, Mr. McLaughlin said.

“The more and more of those [locked-in] investments that are made, the less and less options [governments] have for actually finding emissions reductions in the economy,” explained Alex Wood, senior director at Sustainable Prosperity, the think-tank that hosted the conference where Mr. McLaughlin presented his findings.

“And with less and less options available, they become more expensive.”

The International Energy Agency has been sounding the alarm about locked-in global emissions for months now. In its November report, the IEA warned that on world scale, it will be impossible to meet climate-change targets unless radical changes are undertaken in the next five years.

The IEA said the world has a difficult task in limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius because existing infrastructure already produces 80 per cent of the carbon that would be consistent with such a target. That leaves little room to do anything else.

Canada faces a similar conundrum, the Round Table research shows.

There is a growing consensus that Ottawa’s regulatory approach is moving too slowly to meet the government’s 2020 target to reduce emissions to 17 per cent below 2005 levels. Last week, the federal environment commissioner’s audit of the government’s regulations confirmed that reaching the target would be “unlikely.”

So far, Ottawa’s regulations have tackled just one sector out of eight.

So the Round Table research focuses on how Canada can meet its 2050 targets instead. Canada and other G8 countries have committed to cutting emissions to 65 per cent below 2005 levels by that year.

It’s possible that Canada could meet this target, Mr. McLaughlin said, but the longer Ottawa waits to put a clear price on carbon, the harder and more costly it will be.

The lack of clear details on what the federal government will expect has already caused casualties, added Wood.

Two major, emissions-friendly developments have recently collapsed, mainly because Ottawa has not put forward enough information about how its carbon regime will function, Mr. Wood said.

Investors pulled out of the Pioneer carbon-capture and storage project in Alberta, despite having $779 million in federal and provincial subsidies. Ottawa-based Iogen cancelled plans for a biofuel plant in Manitoba.

Mr. McLaughlin sees hope in electricity.

He says his research shows it will take massive investment – up to $16-billion annually – to meet the 2050 target. That money would be in addition to what is already invested in the carbon-producing sectors of Canada’s economy.

Most of that would have to be in electricity, especially in hydro. His presentation showed that to meet the 2050 target, current investment of $12-billion a year in electricity would have to double.

But in order to attract that kind of money, Mr. McLaughlin said governments need to issue “strong, sustained, properly oriented price signals” that give policy certainty to investors.

Conservatives Must Stop their Attack on the Not-for-Profit Sector

Joyce Murray — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:03:23 +0000

For Immediate Release
May 14, 2012

Conservatives Must Stop their Attack on the Not-for-Profit Sector

OTTAWA — Tonight in Ottawa, Vancouver Quadra MP Joyce Murray will host a discussion on the Conservative government’s attack on the non-profit and charitable sector, attended by leaders from several NGO “umbrella” organizations, and Liberal MPs and Senators.

Millions of Canadians volunteer and donate to NGOs and charities to help build a better Canada and a better world. This sector employs millions and is worth billions of dollars to Canada’s economy with very little cost to taxpayers.

Liberals are consulting with non-profits to find ways to support their efforts.

“The Conservative government is engaged in a political witch hunt designed to muzzle or punish anyone who disagrees with them,” noted Murray. “If you are an NGO and you don’t agree with the government, they will undermine you, audit you, demonize you, and eliminate your funding. This ideological bullying has got to stop!”

Liberal International Cooperation critic Mark Eyking issued a press release today asserting that the Conservative government’s decision to axe funding for the Canadian Nursing Association’s (CNA) International Partnership Program shows that their international development priorities are out of line with Canadians.

He noted that besides the $380 million cut from poor countries, the Conservative government has denied funding for most NGOs doing hard work in these countries, including one of the most dedicated and effective of these groups, the Canadian Nurses Association. Through their global health partnership program, Canadian nurses have worked with these associations in over 40 countries for more than 35 years.
The CNA’s CIDA-funded program, the Strengthening Nurses, Nursing Networks & Associations Program (SNNNAP) was forced to shut down on March 31, 2012, as a result of the Conservative government’s decision to cut its funding.

Mr. Eyking also emphasized that nurses are critical to improving the health outcomes of any country, and the CNA’s work via their global initiative program has proven that a long-term aid approach will produce sustainable results. While Minister Oda is out wasting our tax dollars on lavish five-star hotels and $16 glasses of orange juice, her government is cutting valuable programs like SNNNAP that assist the world’s most vulnerable. It is time that the Conservatives re-evaluate their skewed priorities and re-fund this program so that Canadian nurses can continue their legacy at home and around the world.

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For more information contact:

Office of Joyce Murray
613-992-2430
604-664-9220

MP Joyce Murray on the Conservative governments attack on charities.

Joyce Murray — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:01:35 +0000

MP Joyce Murray asks the Conservative government why they have ramped up attacks on charitable organizations across Canada.

MP Joyce Murray on Hunger Awareness Week

Joyce Murray — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:36:48 +0000

MP Joyce Murray brings attention to the importance of Food Banks across Canada.

MP Joyce Murray asks what effect Bill C-38 will have on small business.

Joyce Murray — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:48:24 +0000

MP Joyce Murray asks MP Carol Hughes what effect Bill C-38 will have on rural economic development and how this budget will impact small and mediums sized enterprises and tourism.

MP Joyce Murray on election fraud

Joyce Murray — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:27:08 +0000

MP Joyce Murray asks once again when the Conservative government will call a Royal Commission to investigate the allegations of election fraud.

MP Joyce Murray on Bill C-38

Joyce Murray — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:07:53 +0000

MP Joyce Murray asks MP Sean Casey what effect the decline of international tourist visits by 15% in addition to the Canadian tourism commission budget cuts of 20% are having on Prince Edward Island.

MP Joyce Murray on the Conservative crime agenda

Joyce Murray — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:12:27 +0000

With prison violence increasing over 37% in five years putting both guards and the public at risk, MP Joyce Murray asks the Conservative government when it will realize its crime agenda is doing more harm than good.

Conservatives Reject Trade and Tourism Jobs as Expo 2012 Opens without Canada

Joyce Murray — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:51:43 +0000

For Immediate Release

OTTAWA– The Conservative government’s decision not to participate in Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea will have a damaging effect on trade and tourism jobs in Canada, said Liberal Small Business and Tourism critic Joyce Murray today.

“The number of international tourists visiting Canada has fallen 15 per cent over the past six years and the Conservatives’ response is to pass up opportunities to showcase Canada, like the World’s Fair,” said Ms. Murray. “This is yet another Conservative attack on our tourism industry which has already had to endure the government’s elimination of the GST Visitor Rebate and 20 per cent cut to the Canadian Tourism Commission.”

The previous World’s Fair in Shanghai was a tremendous success for Canada, with 6.5 million people visiting the Canada Pavilion. The business, trade and bilateral program facilitated dozens of meetings, and led to the signing of nine Memoranda of Understanding and agreements. Expo 2012 is being hosted by South Korea with whom Canada has been negotiating a free trade deal for the past seven years.

“The Bank of Canada recently noted that 85 per cent of Canada’s exports are still bound for our G7 partners and a handful of other European countries which are all expected to experience some of the slowest rates of economic growth over the next few years,” said Ms. Murray. “The fact that we are missing out on an opportunity to sell Canada in a region where huge growth is expected is a clear indication that the Conservatives don’t take expanding our trade ties with Asia-Pacific seriously. If we want to attract investment, businesses and tourists to Canada in order to create good jobs then we need to be at events like Expo 2012 selling Canada to the world.”

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Contact:

Office of Joyce Murray
613-992-2430
604-664-9220

Hébert: Ballot box seen as dead end rather than means to an end

Joyce Murray — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:53:29 +0000

“Debasement of democracy by this current government leads to other consequences that harm Canada…” -Joyce

By Chantal Hebert

National Columnist

The Toronto Star

May 9, 2012

MONTREAL—At some point over the past few months, a large number of Quebec students apparently came to the conclusion that the street was a more legitimate venue for change than the ballot box.

If taking no for an answer to their demand of a tuition freeze in exchange for measures to improve the financial accessibility to higher education was ever an option, that changed somewhere along the way.

In that spirit, a tentative agreement that should have allowed classes to resume on all the province’s campuses has so far been massively rejected.

The agreement would not settle the tuition fee debate. It would merely put it on hold until an election scheduled to take place within six to 18 months.

The Parti Québécois and the left-wing Québec Solidaire will champion the student cause in the upcoming campaign.

If — as polls suggest — Pauline Marois becomes premier, she can be expected to deliver on her commitment to retroactively roll back tuition fees.

In the long game the PQ is playing to achieve sovereignty, a grateful student movement has the potential to become an army of referendum foot soldiers.

But if a pro-higher tuition majority is re-elected to the National Assembly, then the student movement would at least have had the opportunity to put its case to all Quebecers. In a democracy, that is usually as good as it gets.

But not in this instance.

Over the past three months, the student activists who spearhead the boycott movement have been cast as proponents of a Quebec-style Arab spring. By now though, their energy is largely devoted to forcing the hand of a democratically elected government.

They are also said to be moved by the egalitarian spirit of the Occupy movement. But with a major expansion of student grants in the works, the students are mostly fighting for the entitlements of their upper middle-class peers.

Their movement increasingly boils down to an extreme manifestation of a widespread disenchantment toward Canada’s elected institutions; one that is leading alienated voters of all ages and in all regions to see the ballot box as a dead end rather than as a means to an end.

This distorted view has repeatedly been reinforced over the years and nowhere more so these days than on Parliament Hill.

In the national capital, a government elected with barely four in every 10 votes a year ago has since been going out of its way to disenfranchise the majority that did not support it.

Over the opening year of their majority mandate, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have moved to discourage civic dissent — in particular but not exclusively on the environmental front.

They have replaced federal-provincial dialogue with diktats and adversarial litigation.

They have placed themselves on a collision course with the courts over the place of the rule of law in the exercise of ministerial discretion.

The concept of ministerial responsibility has been reduced to a quaint historical footnote and parliamentary accountability is on the same slippery slope.

In the House of Commons, the government has moved to stifle the input of its opposition critics at every turn, systematically curtailing debate on bills or more simply subtracting legislation from competent scrutiny by cramming it inside inflated omnibus bills.

It should surprise no one that governments who treat the rule of law as a pesky inconvenience will eventually breed the same attitude in those that they purport to legislate for.

Repeat shows of contempt for parliamentary institutions by the very people tasked with safeguarding their integrity can hardly breed public respect for those who toil within them or for the product of their legislative labours.

The synchronicity between the ongoing Conservative efforts to emasculate a duly elected federal opposition in the Commons and the unrest against the policies of a duly elected provincial government in the streets of Quebec is accidental.

The two battles are being fought on different fields over different issues. But they are flip sides of the same bad coin: that of a debased democracy.

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