The EU is set to ratify draft regulations that target oil sands and shale oil as high-carbon fuels. The Canadian government has been vigorously lobbying against this for the past two years.
Earlier this week, Satu Hassi, a Green Party member of the European Parliament, was on CBC’s The Current speaking about the unacceptable lobbying on the part of the Albertan and Canadian government’s of the EU on tar sands. You can hear this interview here.
The Council of Canadians has coordinated an open letter to the Canadian government with an impressive list of signatories calling for an end to this lobbying, that was released today. The letter states: Rather than lobby to weaken the efforts of other countries, the Canadian government should focus on efforts that reduce emissions, support green jobs expansion and better regulate the serious social and environmental consequences of tar sands development.
You can read the letter here
You can read a press release here
The Council of Canadians has been tracking, and responding to this lobbying. We are exposing how the CETA negotiations stand to undermine climate policy in the EU and increase the rights of European investors in the tar sands, allowing them to challenge policies that are in the interests of social and environmental priorities.
To see a timeline of this lobbying and the Council of Canadians interventions on tar sands and CETA, go here.
To read a legal opinion commissioned by the Council of Canadians, Indigenous Environmental Network and Friends of the Earth Europe on the potential impact of CETA on the pace and character of the tar sands, go here. To read a brief of this same subject, go here.
To watch a video of the UK Tar Sands Network (a UK-based ally) protest demanding a meeting with their Trade Minister to discuss the implications of CETA for the tar sands, go here.
