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ACTION ALERT Canadians to Europeans: Our government doesn’t speak for us on the tar sands
Background:
The Harper government’s foreign policy is increasingly about protecting corporate interests in the Canadian tar sands, even if this means challenging policy that will help address climate change.
The Harper government’s actions in response to the revised European Union Fuel Quality Directive (EU FQD) is a case in point. The EU FQD will help reduce emissions from transport fuels. It encourages suppliers to reduce emissions and promotes the use of cleaner fuels over dirty fuels. On December 2nd a EU member states technical experts committee will review the policy, after adoption, it will proceed to a vote at the European Parliament.
The Canadian government has been lobbying fiercely against assigning a default value for tar sands (also known as bitumen) through new studies, carefully crafted messages, visits from Canadian and Albertan politicians to Europe and strong lobbying of European Members of Parliament.
Canadian government officials have called this value “discriminatory,” even though it applies not just to tar sands produced in Canada, but to tar sands produced anywhere in the world. Other fuels with heavy carbon footprints are also assigned values. It has been called unscientific, even though the value is based on a peer-reviewed scientific study by a Stanford University professor.
TAKE ACTION: Send a photo message – I’m Canadian and I support the EU FQD
We need to let European decision makers and the public know that our government is not speaking for us. We know we must reduce emissions in the face of a serious climate crisis, and the tar sands are a high carbon fuel. We denounce our government’s lobbying efforts – in fact, we’re sorry that this is how our government is spending it’s time when attention could be placed on addressing the impacts of the tar sands instead – and we support the EU Fuel Quality Directive.
The Council of Canadians will creatively deliver these pictures and share your messages.
Step 1: Get a piece of white paper or cardstock
Step 2: Cut the paper into the shape of a message bubble (Bubble sample: PDF | GIF IMAGE)
Step 3: Write your message to European decision makers and the public on the paper
Step 4: Take a picture of yourself with your message
The Harper government’s foreign policy is increasingly about protecting corporate interests in the Canadian tar sands, even if this means challenging policy that will help address climate change. 