In the coming days, I will announce some international support from the Green Movement for our petition calling on Elizabeth May to take a strong position against the Alberta Tar Sands.
Over the past few months, Alberta Premier Jayson Kenney has relentlessly attacked environmental groups for their international ties. He has attempted to frame any international support for the anti-tar sands campaign as somehow illegitimate and has even launched a public inquiry to examine their sources of funding.
To my surprise, rather than reiterate the importance and legitimacy of international support for this cause major environmental groups such as the David Suzuki foundation have responded by downplaying the percentage of their funding that comes from outside of the country.
We need international support and pressure to shut down the tar sands. We need international support to increase the pressure on the Canadian government to take action on the tar sands. We need international support to bring visibility to this very important issue whose emissions are significant at the planetary scale.
We need all the international support we can get. There is nothing illegitimate, immoral or wrong with working with like-minded people beyond political boarders.
Why would we allow Jason Kenney to control the debate while scolding us on whom we can and can’t work with?
This attack on international support is nothing other than an attempt to divide us. It’s an attempt to force us to turn our backs on key allies.
In solidarity,
Alex Tyrrell
Leader of the Green Party of Québec
