Climate change and the fight for a clean and just energy future are the defining challenges of our time. We ask you for leadership and action to pass the strongest possible climate legislation in the coming year. Our economy, our future, and the health of our communities depend on it.

The enormous challenges we currently face are also powerful opportunities.  We know that the solutions to the global warming and energy crises will also pave the way to recovery from our current economic crisis.  Youth in Canada are ready to build a green jobs economy that provides stable employment while addressing our moral and legal obligations to reduce our emissions and address the climate crisis.

These solutions can and must be carried out in a just and equitable manner that respects the rights and heeds the voices of urban and rural communities, low-income people, workers, new immigrants, marginalized communities, and Indigenous Peoples.  On behalf of the most diverse generation in Canadian history we ask for nothing short of a clean and just energy future for ALL of us.

We know that we cannot wait. Bold climate legislation must be passed. The scientific timeline tells us we must begin reducing emissions immediately and dramatically, and with only two months until Copenhagen, it is our responsibility to show the world we are committed. For our generation, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Our generation calls on the Federal Government to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation in 2009-10 that adheres to the following principles:

1. Reduce Carbon Emissions Immediately

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the targets science tells us are necessary: 25%-40% below 1990 levels by 2020; and 80%-95% below 1990 levels by 2050
• Implement an effective national plan in 2010 to reach this target that focuses on absolute caps on industry emissions and includes market regulation, investment and carbon pricing. Ensure that this plan does not include special exemptions for the tar sands
• Ensure that carbon pricing is just and equitable, and make exceptions for low income individuals and families

2. Invest In Clean and Renewable Energy

• Make substantial investments in clean and sustainable energy development, protecting Canadian energy security
• Phase out subsidies to dirty fossil fuel industries such as the tar sands within five years and ensure a just transition for workers in these industries
• Refurbish and reorganize the public sector energy grid to promote smaller scale, community-controlled distributed energy production

3. Create Effective Green Jobs

• Create jobs and just transition strategies for Canada’s hard-hit sectors to protect and promote good-paying jobs for Canadian workers in the green economy
• Provide the necessary funding for Aboriginal education and training programs, with a special focus on the green economy
• Involve young people in the planning and developing of retraining projects

4. Demonstrate a Commitment to Environmental Justice

• Allocate targeted funding for impacted communities including the North, rural communities and Indigenous communities

5. Demonstrate a Commitment to Managing a Sustainable & Clean Economy

• Invest in low carbon manufacturing strategies and valued added, local production
• Make substantial investments toward housing retrofits, public mass transit, high speed inter-urban rail and short-haul marine transportation

6. Lead Canada To Do Our Part To Build and Ratify a Strong and Progressive Global Climate Agreement In December 2009

• Show leadership and work constructively with other nations to reach a strong new global climate treaty in Copenhagen that puts us on track to reduce carbon dioxide below 350 parts per million
• Assist vulnerable communities and developing countries in the transition to low-carbon economies and with adaptation to the changing climate

As young people, our future hangs in the balance of your decisions, and we implore you to join with us. There is no waiting. There is no higher priority. We demand the passage of bold climate and energy legislation in 2009-10.

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