The Guardian newspaper has released a list some 25 pages long of climate change projects in other countries that were funded by you, the British taxpayer. Since 2009 you ladies and you gentlemen have sent us, here in Canada, £165,937. This translates to roughly $260,000 in Canadian funds. A cool quarter-million.
For example, you wrote a cheque for £20,000 to our David Suzuki Foundation. But I must confess to some bemusement.
If the British government really believes the danger from CO2-induced climate change is dire why hasn’t it banned the use of private jets, forbidden government employees from traveling, and fast-tracked new nuclear power plants? If the Titanic really is headed for the iceberg, surely one takes stern and immediate action.
Yet both the Suzuki Foundation and your government seem more interested in rearranging the deck chairs, in playing bizarre games. Your £20,000 gift is described in the document this way:
Project Title: Canadians working for climate solutions
Project Purpose: To identify key audiences in Canada that have ethnic or cultural ties to countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and build an effective engagement campaign to mobilize and educate these populations to become advocates in the drive for climate change solutions.
Project Partner: David Suzuki Foundation
Budget: £20,000
I think this means that a charitable foundation here took money from over there so that people who’ve immigrated to Canada from poor countries could be sought out. (People in rich countries are protected from Mother Nature. It’s poor people – who can’t afford proper shelter and infrastructure – who are at risk from climate change.)
Immigrants to a new land usually have things on their mind. They’re starting over. Everything is unfamiliar. They may be learning to speak and read a new language. They may be working two jobs. But the Suzuki Foundation and your government have a plan. It’s to convince these immigrants that the way to protect their loved ones back in the old country isn’t to send them money or to sponsor their relocation to Canada. Nah, what they really need to do is become a climate advocate.
You sent £20,000 to these shores so that the Suzuki Foundation could launch a campaign whose purpose was to produce more Canadian climate activists.
Really, you shouldn’t have.
h/t Bishop Hill
