Canadian Government’s Aggressive Promotion of Tar Sands Draws International Attention: Vigils at Canadian Missions in America and Europe
Washington, DC; London, UK; Ottawa, Canada; Brussels, Belgium–(ENEWSPF)–March 8, 2012. Hundreds gathered outside more than 20 Canadian diplomatic missions in the U.S. and European Union to voice concern and extend hope that Canada will reverse its international lobbying on behalf of highly destructive and polluting tar sands oil industry. The vigils were held in conjunction with a new report documenting the Canadian government’s aggressive lobbying to promote tar sand and stop international climate action.
“Yesterday, hundreds gathered at Canadian foreign missions to offer a prayer for peoples of all nations to remember that the land belongs to the future and is not ours to destroy,” said The Reverend Canon Sally G. Bingham, Interfaith Power & Light’s President. “We are concerned for our Earth, for she has a fever that will only be made worse by burning tar sands from Canada. We pray that people all over the world awaken to monumental climate-threats posed by the extraction and burning of tar sands oil.”
Follow links for a list of vigils and images of the events.
The new report, Dirty Oil Diplomacy – The Canadian Government’s Global Push to Sell the Tar Sands, outlines the changing domestic and international policies of the Canadian government as they work to expand the tar sands – Canada’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas pollution. This report is based on hundreds of pages of documents obtained through Canadian freedom of information laws. It paints a clear picture for the first time of the tar sands advocacy strategy, a collaborative effort of the Governments’ of Canada and Alberta along with industry to ensure that no doors are closed to Canada’s highly polluting tar sands.
“The Canadian Government is working hand in hand with the tar sands industry in a campaign to ensure nothing stands in the way of the reckless expansion of this highly polluting oil,” said Hannah McKinnon, Campaign Director with Climate Action Network Canada. “In the era of dangerous climate change, this campaign is an offensive attack on countries, First Nations, and citizens that recognize the urgent need to move away from dirty energy towards the safe and clean energy future the world needs.”
The report was released by Climate Action Network Canada, Environmental Defence Canada, Equiterre, Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the U.S. Sierra Club.
Source: sierraclub.org
