Rally For A Just Transition
Sat, Nov 04
|Carl Zehr Square
The intent of the day is to focus on creating a just transition locally, financed by making polluters pay. We are highlighting local solutions that our municipal governments could be working on harder, and targeting the Federal Government, to help fund those solutions.
Time & Location
Nov 04, 2023, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Carl Zehr Square, 200 King St W, Kitchener, ON N2G 4G7, Canada
About the event
Rally at Carl Zehr Square to demand that the federal government tax the excess profits of the fossil fuel sector, and use the money to fund a swift, just transition to clean, renewable energy for everyone. This action is one of hundreds happening across the world on November 3 and 4 to draw attention to the urgent need to power up the global renewable energy revolution.
Speakers will highlight local or nearby climate solutions
- Kathryn Bakos from the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation: expected climate impacts for Southern Ontario, the urgency for transition off of fossil fuels, and steps we can take to enhance energy efficiency, flood and fire protection, while saving money on energy and home insurance premiums.
- West 5: Ontario's first mixed-use Net Zero community
- Heather McDiarmid: Air Source Heat Pumps.
- Aislinn Clancy and Deb Chapman: perspectives on local initiatives,
- Mike Morrice, MP: Federal initiatives.
This is a great way for you and your family/friends to get more involved in local initiatives.
The rally will end with "What We Can Do Now" to support local initiatives and join local groups.
One action is to sign a petition calling on the Federal Government to apply a 15% windfall profit tax on fossil fuel companies operating in Canada, and directing that revenue to support further action on climate change and improve affordability for Canadians, such as investments in public transit, retrofitting buildings and greening the electricity grid.
The rally is being organized by: 350.org, Waterloo Region Citizens' Climate Lobby, 50 x 30, Faith Climate Justice, and the K-W Council of Canadians.
FROM 350.ORG:
On November 4th, as fossil fuel companies publish another round of obscene multi-billion-dollar profits, we will ignite the anger and hope of workers and communities to bring a just transition to life. With creativity, vision, and bold arts-based interventions, we will showcase real, people-powered solutions to the climate crisis. We will call on our leaders to cut ties with fossil fuels, make polluters pay, and invest in powering a just transition at home and abroad.
From coast-to-coast-to-coast and across the globe, communities are taking to the streets to Power Up the future we want and need!
Join us.
Demands
Our demands of the federal government are simple:
- Pay Up – seize the wealth and power of the fossil fuel industry: tax unjust corporate profits, stop all subsidies and new fossil fuel projects, implement hard caps on emissions, and keep industry influence out of our politics.
- Power Up – unleash the money to fund a just transition: redirect financial resources towards generating millions of unionized jobs, shifting us to 100% renewable energy, following Indigenous leadership, and rapidly decarbonizing the entire economy in line with climate science.
The world demands a just transition. We do not seek to simply replace one broken energy system with another by transferring power between or within transnational corporations.
This means:
- Frontline and Indigenous communities getting the space and power to lead;
- Workers being supported to transition to a green economy that works for all;
- New economic systems and energy ownership models that redistribute power from private hands to the public good, from the few to the many;
- The corporations and countries that generated this crisis paying their fair share to address it.