A Made-in-Canada Green New Deal

We’ve heard a lot in the news lately about the Green New Deal being brought forward in the States by people like the popular Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Now there’s also a Green New Deal for Canada.

But what exactly does this mean?

To start, we’re all pretty clear about what needs to be done to address the dual threat facing humankind — the climate emergency and species extinction. We need to radically reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we are emitting into the atmosphere, and we need to do much more — primarily regarding habitat preservation — to prevent species extinction.

But what we in the environmental movement sometimes fail to address is the need for decisive action to be taken on the environment in a way that also addresses much broader social issues, such as unemployment and wealth inequality. That’s what the Green New Deals are all about.

In the 1930s, American president Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, a wide range of social initiatives designed to address the terrible effects of the Great Depression. That New Deal proved that effective government intervention in the economy designed to both improve the lives of millions of people and stimulate the economy is a recipe for success.

South of the border over the past few months, a broad-based, youth-driven movement called the Sunrise Movement has recognized the need to promote a Green New Deal. As articulated by the Sunrise Movement, government should address the environmental emergency we face by implementing a broad range of initiatives that would serve a dual purpose — saving the environment while at the same time improving the lives of millions of citizens in much the same way that FDR’s New Deal did in the 1930s.

What might a Green New Deal look like on the ground in Canada? Here’s a perfect example that best illustrates what I understand it to be all about.

As environmentalists, we’re all very strongly opposed to the tar sands development in Alberta. It must be phased out and closed down because it’s one of the most carbon-intensive forms of oil production on the planet. However — and here’s where the Green New Deal kicks in — we also must allocate the resources necessary to retrain all displaced tar sands workers for new jobs that pay the equivalent of their current wages. Ideally, these would be jobs in new green industries.

The Green Party of Canada is really good at limiting carbon emissions and protecting habitat. But one of my soft criticisms of the party is its lack of vision regarding the need to couple social issues with green initiatives.

A Green New Deal has the potential to broaden our environmental movement into a much larger movement that embraces workers, First Nations, and those who live in poverty, to name a few.

Here in Canada, 350.org has begun organising dozens of small and large town hall meetings across the nation to begin brainstorming what a made-in-Canada Green New Deal could look like.

My partner, Penny, and I are hosting one of these town halls June 15. I’ll be blogging in the future about the good ideas that come out of these brainstorming sessions for a Green New Deal.