Environmental Questions for Leadership Candidates
Organizing for Change has sent this list of environmental questions to all six BC Liberal leadership candidates and all six BC NDP leadership candidates. If you're attending any leadership events, for either party, be sure to raise one or more of these questions -- let them know British Columbians want our prospective leaders to make creative and positive commitments that the environment will be a policy priority!
Responses to date have been received from Mike de Jong (Liberal), John Horgan (NDP), Nicholas Simons (NDP), Adrian Dix (NDP), and Mike Farnworth (NDP).
1. BC has taken several important steps towards a lower carbon economy. What would you do to help the province achieve its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2020 and to position BC for the challenges and opportunities of a low-carbon economy? [For more information]
2. In 2012, the province will be generating 3% of its revenue from the carbon tax, which will be a $1.1 billion incentive annually for investments in clean energy solutions. Do you support increasing the effectiveness and fairness of that incentive over time with tools like the carbon tax and cap and trade? [For more information]
3. While BC is home to more than 1900 species at risk, it is one of only two provinces in Canada without legislated protection of those species or their habitat. What would you do to protect endangered species and their habitat in BC? Would you consider stand-alone legislation to achieve this? [For more information]
4. BC has nearly completed land use planning across the province, but almost none of those plans considered the impact of global warming on a host of environmental and resource values. Would you consider additional conservation measures to protect the carbon storage capacity of BC’s forests while providing more chances for BC’s fish and wildlife to adapt to their changing environment? [For more information]
5. Many communities in BC and elsewhere across Canada have banned the use of cosmetic pesticides. Three provinces have banned their sale as a result. Do you think BC should prohibit the sale and use of chemical pesticides for lawns, gardens, and non-agricultural landscaping? [For more information]
6. BC is in the process of modernizing its outdated Water Act. Do you think protecting fish and wildlife should be a top priority in managing freshwater flows, as do more than 90% of British Columbians? [For more information]
7. BC’s precious coast is at growing risk daily from more oil tankers in the south, new proposals in the north, and increasing shipping traffic of all kinds throughout the coast. How will you protect BC’s fragile coastal ecosystems from oil spills, both large and small? [For more information and here]
