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The following letter was sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

November 19, 2006

Rt Honourable Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa


Dear Prime Minister,

As a new mother, I’m writing to you to express deep disappointment with your government’s recent proposed Clean Air Act.

Many of the steps outlined in your Clean Air Act are woefully inadequate if we are to actually take meaningful action on slowing the rate of Climate Change presently underway. While the Kyoto Accord seeks to reduce emissions to 6 % below 1990 levels by 2010, the Clean Air Act has no short-term hard targets. The intensity-based targets recommended actually allow emissions in Canada to rise. Furthermore the real reductions of 45-65% below 2005 levels come much too late, in the year 2050, to prevent Global Climate Chaos.

To avert the worst consequences of Climate Change, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately! Many scientists report that we must stabilize the world climate in order to prevent an average temperature rise of more than 2°C. Unfortunately your government has done nothing to address the urgency of, as Kofi Annan put it so eloquently at the recent climate change conference in Nairobi, “the greatest threat to humankind now”.

Canadians are very concerned about Climate Change as the evidence of its advance is undeniable now. Therefore I know I am not alone when I urge you to use your power and influence as Prime Minister to help Canadian industry, institutions, and all citizens make the necessary Greenhouse Gas Emission reductions set under the legally binding Kyoto Accord. By doing this small step you will likely, increase your government’s chance for re-election, regain the respect of the international community, and most importantly, help to ensure that our children and future generations inherit a habitable planet.

Thank you very much for your time.

L. A. Hahn
Gananoque
Ontario