Dear Editor,
When it comes to climate change, we need a made in Saskatchewan plan. Now, the NDP is opposed to any scheme that Ottawa imposes without consultation, but Brad Wall and the Sask. Party need to look in the mirror and recognise that they are the ones who threw away our province’s voice and their own credibility by refusing to do anything on this file except complaining and grandstanding.
In 2009, the Sask. Party introduced and, with the support of the NDP, passed into law a plan to make the province’s biggest polluters pay for the pollution they cause and then put that money into a Green Technology Fund that would invest in sustainable energy. But the Sask. Party has never enacted that law.
The first step to earning back some credibility on fighting climate change would be to implement the Fund. It would not only diversify the economy but create jobs too. According to the Conference Board of Canada, had the Fund been put in place, in the first four years alone, it would have invested $1.3 billion back into the Saskatchewan economy and would have created 8,568 jobs.
Obviously we have to continue to develop and export our natural resources. They drive the economy and create jobs. But how can they Sask. Party expect to have credibility on the national stage while they refuse to engage in a responsible and sustainable way and won’t even enforce their own laws?
Cathy Sproule
NDP Environment Critic
