Letter to the Editor

As I’ve been touring Kootenay-Columbia over the past few months, I’ve heard over and over again how deeply concerned voters are over the climate emergency.

While our riding has been spared the worst of the devastating fires burning in the west, there are still more than 50 fires burning in our region, the memory of 38-degree weather, and a week-long heat dome remains.

Despite that, both the Liberal government and the Conservative opposition continue to fiddle while B.C. burns.

The Liberals have promised decisive action but failed to follow through. The Conservatives have committed to rolling back our climate change fight to Harper-era policies while masquerading as climate change champions. Nobody believes it, and they shouldn’t because here in Kootenay-Columbia the CPC candidate has championed approving new oil pipelines across Indigenous land, reviving the Northern Gateway pipeline, and removing a ban on tankers along the Pacific coast.

Only Jagmeet Singh and the NDP can be trusted to make – and keep – decisive plans to fight the climate crisis while reviving Canada’s economy with good-paying, clean energy jobs. Simply put, Mr. Trudeau can’t keep his promises, and Mr. O’Toole won’t even try. Only Jagmeet and the NDP have a plan to deliver climate action now.

For the last 30 years I’ve been serving the people of this riding, first in my role as Regional Manager for BC Parks and the Environment, and as a champion for fighting climate change as your Member of Parliament in the House of Commons. You have a choice to make: elect a MP from a party that still doesn’t believe in human-caused climate change or one who has been working to solve that crisis for decades.

Wayne Stetski,

NDP candidate for Kootenay-Columbia

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