An open letter to Alex Ruff, our Member of Parliament

Hello Alex:

When you met with Grey Bruce Climate Action Network at our April meeting, the Conservative Party had just unveiled Secure the Environment, the Party's climate plan, which we were pleased to see. Yet recently we received at our homes a flyer outlining your five-point recovery plan entitled Secure the Future: Canada’s Recovery Plan, which contained nothing about climate change. In response, we urge you to incorporate your climate recommendations into your Recovery Plan.

Regarding one of your five points, “Secure Jobs,” President Biden pointed out in his 100-day speech that saving the planet is going to create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs. Indeed, according to the Canadian Green Building Council, Canada’s green building sector can contribute 1.5 million jobs and $150 billion in GDP by 2030. In fact, a green buildings plan, with climate targets, would connect the Conservative climate and recovery plans. After all, Secure the Environment proposes to “work with provinces, territories and applicable utilities to put in place a Residential Building Retrofit Initiative.”

Grey County is nearing the completion of its Climate Action Plan and will be seeking to meet reductions targets. We expect the plan to call for a retrofit and green buildings program, which will be passed down to the municipal level and echoed in the municipalities’ own climate action plans. We suggest that the Conservative Party set climate targets to be achieved by a green buildings plan and connect it to jobs. We in BGOS would be among the beneficiaries to receive help achieving our own goals.

Regarding “Securing Canada’s Economy,” another of your five points, economic security cannot be addressed without a focus on climate change. Flooding and fires are reshaping the financial, insurance and real estate sectors. They are looking to the government to secure their industries by addressing climate change. In January of this year it was reported that insured damage for severe weather events across Canada reached $2.4 billion in 2020. The Bank of Canada has warned that the climate crisis represents a systemic risk to the country’s economy.

As your constituents, we look forward to seeing the Conservative Party integrate climate change into the entire range of policy initiatives, including recovery planning, for the benefit of job creation and economic security here in GBOS and Canada. Please feel free to contact us to discuss this any other issue.

Yours truly,

Marilyn Struthers and Joyce Hall, on behalf of Grey Bruce Climate Action Network, a coalition of seven climate action and citizen groups throughout Grey and Bruce Counties