Green Party MLA Andrew Weaver may have been tempted to give his colleagues a lump of coal in their stockings, but he’s opted for a lower-emission option.
Whether they’ve been naughty or nice, Weaver plans to send all of his fellow MLAs a graphic novel about climate change.
The comic book, which is titled The Great Tranformation: Climate – Can we beat the heat? was produced by the German Advisory Council on Global Change. While Weaver calls the book “easy to read,” it is packed with scientific information about climate change and the technologies and policies that could help countries reduce their emissions.
Weaver said he was inspired to give the book to MLAs after this fall’s legislative session, where bills on changes to greenhouse gas reporting and the tax regime for the province’s nascent LNG industry were debated.
“I’ve heard so much hot air in the legislature here on the topic of climate, it makes me wonder if anyone here is actually thinking about climate,” Weaver said, noting that the opposition NDP railed against the bills, but ended up voting in favour of the LNG tax bill.
“They’re saying the words, but when push comes to shove, they’re all on the same train: ‘Let’s go fossil fuels.’”
Changes to greenhouse gas reporting will simply “encourage people to pollute more efficiently,” Weaver said. He believes the LNG tax framework was rushed through the legislature and contains loopholes that will allow companies to avoid paying taxes.
Correction: an earlier version of this story stated that the NDP voted in favour of both bills.
@jenstden
