A Fresh Opportunity for a #CleanReset

By: Gavin Pitchford

lets pick the leaders who will deliver…

Yes – there is a tariff war – and unquestionably it is critical that Canada respond effectively.  But it’s also essential that we both walk – and chew gum at the same time.

Just as we did after Covid, it’s critical that the economic investment and development we undertake now meets two moments: Not just to protect jobs and drive growth to replace that which may erode for as long as Trump remains in office, but by strategically investing to grow Canada’s place in the new economy, and create the clean economy jobs that will meet both the climate emergency AND the tariff emergency – not just the tariff emergency.

In case that wasn’t obvious, NOT the pipelines some oily lobbyists are asking for…

I will refer readers to the “#CleanReset” plan that 100+ Clean50 experts collaborated to put together five years ago this month, beginning our work even BEFORE the Covid lockdowns started, presciently anticipating both the lockdown – and the need to rebuild the economy afterwards – and identifying the path to a clean economy versus one focused on filling potholes.  We released it on Earth Day, 2020.

A robust and well thought out plan, it was then endorsed by 217 Clean50 members, 175 of their employers – and then another 40 organizations and their leaders, including the Green Party, who made it their post Covid policy platform!

(Notably, about a dozen of the leaders of those “additional organization” signatories have joined the Clean50 since)

If you’re interested in a deeper dive on any of the topics, a collection of Clean50 expert panels was pulled together via Zoom to delve into the various policy levers governments could pull to help transform – and repair – the economy simultaneously. You can see them here.

For example, did you know that a government investment in incentivizing energy efficiency retrofits, done properly, can essentially refund the government’s investments completely?  It’s true! Essentially significant progress towards net-zero buildings – and incentivized at net-zero cost to taxpayers!

How? Typically an incentive drives a 4x-5x multiplier of the incentive amount in total spending. Then, via employee’s taxes, GST / HST taxes collected on both the installed products and the labour, and still even more on top of that: Because property owners need receipts to claim the incentives, contractors are forced to stop offering “no tax payment discounts for cash”, and are instead forced out of the black market economy to declare all their income.  And their employee’s income. All of which is taxable.

And if such plans incorporated “buy Canadian or from Canadian free-trade partners” provisions, the impacts could be even better.

IT’s become clear that the fight for the “Right Recovery Plan” starts with the fending off Big Oil. It’s fair to say there are a lot of oil companies, their executives and lobbyists across Canada doing their very best to leverage the tariffs imposed by the USA as evidence of a need for taxpayers to help them get their product to tidewater, so that these significantly foreign interests are no longer reliant upon the USA to take it, at a discount.

But there’s zero evidence to support the notion that fossil fuel exports to the USA are in any danger of going away – or of the price paid to Canadian producers dropping.  None. What is clear is that a slowing economy will cut the price of oil everywhere – a decline of ~10% since the Trump economic “plan” was instituted. That has nothing to do with Canada’s trade with the USA – but what will happen, of course, is that Big Oil will fire people in Alberta by the hundreds.

Similarly, there is little to no evidence that others will pay enough extra for Canadian product, over and above what the American refineries are already paying, sufficient to justify the investment of building another long pipeline.  And if that evidence existed, clearly industry would have sought to build it by now?  Instead, all such efforts were abandoned when it became evident the economics weren’t there for shareholders.

So, the financial case for a pipeline to the Atlantic rests significantly upon taxpayer support that will steal resources away from actually future-focused economic development, while further enriching mostly foreign investors. 

By using the phrase “energy corridor” instead of “oil pipeline”, Big Oil is doing it’s level best to conjure up visions of something clean and green. An actually “clean and green” energy corridor would instead be an energy corridor that enabled cleaner Quebec, BC and Manitoba electricity to flow east and west along major powerlines – augmented by greater reliance upon renewables and energy storage.

And pipelines, if any, have to be engineered to move hydrogen as well – and so manufactured to a much higher standard. Although Clean50 Emerging Leader Brandy Kinkead of Ayrton Energy has some evolving technology that enables hydrogen to be stored and transported in a gel like substance at surface pressure and temperatures – enabling tanker truck transport at least. The latter is clearly where a forward-looking Canada needs to focus our economic development. In emerging technologies whose outcomes are still uncertain – not supporting industries that are already well established, looking for a handout – and whose “legacy” is a growing and dangerous number of abandoned oil wells and undrinkable water supplies – with another taxpayer funded way to make more money.

And denying those requests will demand a caucus and a parliament that can withstand both the false-premise lobbying, and the vocal minority calls for an Alberta secession, emanating from those who seek to maintain any relevance by keeping us reliant upon exporting oil.  We’ve done this before and we know how it ends: Many in Quebec once lobbied for support to continuing to mine and export  asbestos – even though by then we knew it was deadly – killing miners and consumers alike.  The world wised up, and our exports are now a fraction of what they once were.

So… About the Election… Can we make a difference?

Apart from voting the way you know we need to, we have an unprecedented opportunity to elect some folks we should be able to rely upon in that fight: Eleven (11!!) members of Canada’s Clean50 community are seeking election – or re-election – wearing the banners of all the major parties except the Conservatives.  The opportunity to have such powerful voices for climate action is one that all who care about climate should wholeheartedly endorse, encourage and actively support. 

So herewith, a list of the 11 Clean50 members and champions on that list, together with links to both their Clean50 write-ups, and their election websites, in alphabetical order. (Click on their Clean50 year(s) to see their Clean50 write up, or on their riding / party name to link to their election website.)

Seeking  federal election for the first time we have 3 members of the Clean50:

  • Shannon Miedema (2023) in Halifax (Liberal) Shannon most recently ran sustainability for the city of Halifax.

    Gregor Robertson (2024,2019,2013) in Vancouver Fraserview–South Burnaby (Liberal) Gregor was Vancouver Mayor for 10 years, then an executive in a clean building start up, and most recently served as the special envoy for the international clean cities coalition “Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy”.

    Eric St Pierre (2022) in Honore-Mercier (Liberal) Eric most recently served as ED of the Trottier Foundation, which is an incredibly supporter of climate action.  Eric conceived of the “Emission Cap” baseball hats and led the Canadian version of Juice Media’s famous “Australien Government” spoof advertisement for carbon capture.  Catch the latest Honest Government advert on the Canadian election here:  (keep the volume down – salty language alert!)

Previously Sitting MPs Seeking to Return to office (alphabetical order):

A past Clean50 Sponsor champion from VCIB deserves a shout out too…

Vincent Gasparro in Eglinton-Lawrence (Liberal)

Let’s pick our champions wisely!

Your Clean50 Candidates: Top row: Francois Philippe Champagne, Laurel Collins, Julie Dabrusin, Nate Erskine-Smith, Steven Guilbeault, Elizabeth May. Bottom Row: Shannon Miedema, Mike Morrice, Gregor Robertson, Eric St. Pierre, Jon Wilkinson, Vince Gasparro* (*Clean50 sponsor champion)