BIll C-311 (Climate Change Accountability Act) Defeated in Senate

This is a big step back for our Mother Earth. It is very sad for thoughtful and compromised people living on Turtle Island.

Please read below,

Jallalla!
Marcelo

Prof. Marcelo Saavedra-Vargas
Programme d'études autochtones/Program of Aboriginal Studies
Université d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa
(613) 562-5800, poste/ext. 1165
msaavedr@uOttawa.ca

Some very sad news. Tonight [Tuesday Nov. 16th] the country’s only federal climate change legislation in Parliament, the Climate Change Accountability Act, was defeated in the Senate 43 to 32.

What happened? In an unprecedented move, the Conservatives called for a surprise vote on Bill C-311 in the Senate while many Liberal Senators were missing. While that isn’t a first, the fact that the bill was called for a vote before any debate or consideration could be held is unprecedented. Conservative Senators were ordered not to speak to the bill during the 193 days it was in the Senate, and even the Conservative Speaker of the Senate was told to vote against the bill (when the Speaker’s role is to vote to continue debate in the case of a tie).

Needless to say, it’s incredibly undemocratic of an appointed Senate to kill a bill passed by a majority of elected MPs, representing two-thirds of Canadians, without even giving it due consideration or debate. It’s also colossally hypocritical of Harper to use the unelected Liberal Senate to kill bills passed by our democratically-elected House, when he has spent most of his political career railing against this very tactic.

Tomorrow at 11am, Bruce Hyer will join Jack Layton and others in front of the doors to the Senate to hold a press conference. Any of you in Ottawa are invited to attend.

What does this mean? Canada now heads to the UN climate change negotiations in Cancun without a single law on the books or bill in Parliament tackling greenhouse gas pollution. Worse, all the work thousands of Canadians across the country have done to advance this climate legislation and the climate cause federally is put on hold. Rest assured, however, that it will only be a delay of a couple of years: we passed this climate bill through the House twice already, and will pass climate legislation through the House again after the next election if necessary. The education campaigns people have held are a solid foundation to build on, and we will win eventually. We must.

What can we do? Tell everyone you know about what happened here, and why it’s important. Make some noise. Write in your blogs, in your newsletters, or contact the media. Politicians only change their behaviour if there is a cost to doing things the same. So far, they are hoping this assault on our future will go unnoticed. Let’s prove them wrong.

(Courtesy of Andy Blair Legislative Assistant │ Adjoint législatif)

follow the links here http://www.parl.gc.ca/ to contact your MP, your PM, the opposition..

before Cancun we've got to make some noise.