As climate marches happening worldwide, NDP calls for the Liberals to stop climate delays

On Friday, as climate marches take place around the world, Canada’s NDP leader Jagmeet Singh made the following statement:

“As thousands of people march in Climate Strikes around the world to demand urgent action, New Democrats are standing in solidarity with you. We know this crisis is already here and that Canadians need elected officials to get serious about helping communities facing extreme weather events and taking action to ensure things don’t get worse for future generations of Canadians.

This past summer, Canadians experienced one of the most destructive wildfire seasons, harsh droughts and record-breaking heat waves. People have been calling on their government to take meaningful action to address the climate crisis they’re already living with.

More than 13 million hectares of land burned this summer, and hundreds of thousands of Canadians were displaced or evacuated. Canadians can’t afford more delay and disappointment from the Liberal government.

People are sick of Justin Trudeau and Minister Guilbeault saying all the right things and doing photo-ops, but when oil and gas CEOs decide their profits are more important than saving the planet, the Liberals are nowhere to be found. They’ve fallen short on almost $8 billion of their own climate promises, and they continue to put big oil and gas companies’ profits ahead of bold action to help Canadians.

And people are right to be skeptical about Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. He pretends to care about climate when there’s a microphone in front of him, but he’s more interested in getting power than tackling climate change. Some of his caucus members can’t even seem to agree that climate change is real.

With more than a thousand wildfires still burning across Canada and more land and habitats being turned to dust, taking on the climate crisis has never been more important. We’re already behind because Justin Trudeau continues to delay and disappoint Canadians at every turn—especially young Canadians who trusted him to chart a different course.

New Democrats have been pushing to end fossil fuel subsidies, putting stronger emission caps on the oil and gas industry, and investing more in climate change mitigation for communities—particularly northern and Indigenous communities.

People want urgent climate action, which is what New Democrats are fighting for.