How do you want your tax dollars spent?

 

Image credit: barrie.ca

Why are Canadian taxpayers still subsidizing the oil and gas industry which is making handsome profits?

According to CSIMarket (csimarket.com), in the second quarter of 2022, the net profit margin for the oil and gas production industry was 31.43%, significantly above the industry average; and the gross margin for the industry was 86.46% in the same period.

Both the federal and provincial governments provide financial support to fossil fuel companies through various means, such as tax breaks, direct funding, and public financing. A report by Environmental Defence estimated that in 2023, the federal government provided at least $18.6 billion in support to the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. This includes $8 billion in loan guarantees for the Trans Mountain pipeline and $7.4 billion in public financing through Export Development Canada.

Here are a few ideas for a more compassionate and less environmentally harmful use of $18 billion from the federal government than lining the pockets of fossil fuel company shareholders:

• Affordable housing
• Childcare subsidies for single parents
• Education
• Healthcare, Pharmacare and Long Term Care
• Improved Disability Benefits
• Universal Basic Income (UBI)

Hope and Act with Creation

 

The Season of Creation began September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends tomorrow, October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology.

The theme for the 2024 Season of Creation is "To hope and act with Creation." This annual Christian celebration encourages Christians worldwide to pray and respond to the cry of Creation. The guiding symbol for this year's season is "The first fruits of hope," inspired by Romans 8:19-25.

The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are two sides of the same coin. The cry of one causes the cry of the other.

The times we live in demonstrate that we often view the Earth not as a gift from our Creator but as a resource to be exploited - almost always at the expense of the poor. However, Creation teaches us that hope is present in waiting, in the expectation of a better future. To hope, in the biblical context, doesn't mean remaining still and silent; it means actively groaning, crying out, and struggling for a new life even amidst difficulties. Creation and all human beings are called to worship the Creator and work toward a dynamic future from which the first fruits of hope can spring.

As the season comes to a close, let us reflect on our relationship with the Earth, seek reconciliation with the Earth and with one another, and resolve on meaningful new personal habits to care for our common home.

Grassy Narrows First Nation Sues Over Mercury Pollution

 

Image credit The Toronto Star

News items in today's Canadian media report that Grassy Narrows First Nation is suing the Federal and Ontario Governments over continued mercury pollution of their drinking and fishing waters since 1960, when Dryden's paper mill in northwestern Ontario dumped an estimated nine tonnes of mercury into their water in violation of Treaty 3.

We asked Copilot (Microsoft's AI): What does Pope Francis say about water in Laudato Si? Here is Copilot's response:

In his encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis addresses the issue of water by stating that “access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights” (LS 30). 

He emphasizes the critical importance of water, the growing tendency to privatize it, and the need for it to remain accessible to all, especially the poor who are disproportionately affected by water scarcity.

Pope Francis also reflects on the broader environmental crisis, linking the degradation of nature to the exploitation and abuse of the planet’s resources, including water. He calls for a collective response to the “cry of the earth” and the “cry of the poor,” urging for a change in lifestyle, production, and consumption to protect our common home.

The encyclical is a call to action for all humanity to recognize the severity of the environmental challenges we face and to work together towards sustainable solutions, with clean water being a fundamental aspect of this global endeavor.

It behooves Canadians, especially Ontarians, of conscience to support and amplify the repeated pleas of the people of this First Nation to have the waters of Grassy Narrows remediated. Boiling water can kill bacteria in the water, but no amount of boiling can get rid of mercury.

It is the mission of the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SSVP) to serve Christ in the poor with love, respect, justice and joy. Where people are disadvantaged by systemic injustice, we advocate with them and on their behalf.

Does Canada need a law to combat environmental racism?

Image: Steve Greenberg

The following is an excerpt from...

Why Canada needs a law to combat environmental racism

Read the full article here

At a time when health and environmental crises dominate the public conversation, Black History Month in February was a stark reminder of the pervasive environmental struggles racialized communities, past and present, disproportionately face.

This month, there may be good news on the horizon. Nova Scotia Liberal MP Lenore Zann has introduced Bill C-230 in the House of Commons, the National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism Act. It’s scheduled for a March vote.

The historical link between the civil rights and environmental justice movements is widely acknowledged, yet these struggles have become increasingly isolated over time. While environmental laws and regulations have grown exponentially since the NIMBY protests of the 1970s, the concerns of racialized communities have rarely, if ever, been at their forefront.

Instead, environmental governance and zoning regulations have often been deployed against the interests of Black, Indigenous and immigrant communities in North America. Well-known Canadian cases include Ontario’s chemical industry cluster that surrounds the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and Nova Scotia’s hazardous waste siting in historical Africville.

Environmental injustice is just one aspect of the systemic racial discrimination that continues to plague Canada from coast to coast to coast.

In December, researchers Amanda Giang and Kaitlin Castellani from the University of British Columbia published research showing that the cumulative air pollution burden in Canada’s three major cities (Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal) disproportionately affects racialized communities. In Montreal, immigrant residents consistently experience higher cumulative air pollution, while in Toronto, this burden falls on low-income residents. In Vancouver, it’s Indigenous residents. These disparities in exposure to air pollution are just one dimension of the generalized pattern of environmental injustice affecting historically marginalized groups: Indigenous Peoples, racialized newcomers and the urban poor.

Read the rest of this article here.

Environmental Racism

 

Environmental racism occurs when racialised communities are targeted for the establishment of environmentally hazardous sites and the subsequent neglect of those communities in relation to the cleanup of those sites, especially where this happens with respect to environmental policy-making by any level of government.

A private member's bill that aims to address environmental racism is headed for debate in the House of Commons this month.

According to a CBC news article: "Introduced by Nova Scotia MP Lenore Zann, Bill C-230 is seeking a national strategy to examine the link between race, socio-economic status and environmental risk, as well as the connection between hazardous sites and negative health outcomes in communities where Black and Indigenous people and people of colour live." Read the full article here: Bill that aims to address environmental racism heads for debate in House of Commons.

The bill was inspired by Ingrid Waldron, associate professor in the faculty of health at Dalhousie University in Halifax and author of "There's Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities", which in turn inspired the 2019 Netflix documentary featuring actors Elliot Page and Ian Daniel.

If you have Netflix, do yourself a favour and watch this documentary, "There's Something In the Water."

Season of Creation 2020 - Jubilee for the Earth

 

Endorsed by Pope Francis in 2015 and supported by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the annual month-long ecumenical celebration entitled the Season of Creation will begin on 1 September (World Day of Prayer for Creation) and continue until 4 October 2020 (feast of Saint Francis of Assisi). 

The celebration calls on the global Christian community to promote prayer and action to protect our common home, and is one of the initiatives to celebrate the Special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year which runs from 24 May 2020 until 24 May 2021. The theme for this year’s season is “Jubilee for the Earth”. 

For more information and resources on the Season of Creation, please visit the website at https://seasonofcreation.org/

Reproduced from the website of the  Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB)

Laudato Si' - just some kind of 'green' encyclical about climate change?

Pope Francis has called for special events this week to mark and draw attention to the 5th anniversary of his encyclical, Laudato Si'.

Laudato Si’ Day 7 - #52 One Single Human Family

This is the last in this series of meditations on the Pope's encyclical, Laudato Si', Chapter 1, Section V - Global Inequality.
What does the Pope mean by “structural perversion” and “differentiated responsibilities”?

52. The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them, yet this is not the case where ecological debt is concerned. In different ways, developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future.