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Sierra Club Canada
For release: September 26, 2008

Alberta’s Bright Sustainable Energy Future

Alberta’s economy will prosper, not suffer, as carbon pricing encourages renewables to replace fossil fuels, says Sierra Club of Canada.

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper is wrong in his dire warnings of ‘untold damage’ to Alberta’s economy, if Canada follows the lead of other countries by putting a price on carbon emissions,” says Stephen Hazell, Sierra Club Canada’s Executive Director.

There is no support for these dire predictions - this is the untold story, in this election. Emissions from the tar sands will continue to rise, with the government’s current approach.

Mining the tar sands will also leave a toxic legacy for future generations of Albertans. By contrast, other countries have encouraged investments in sustainable energy by adopting the principle that the polluter pays.

“There is absolutely no evidence that a carbon tax would damage the economy. Countries such as Sweden and Norway have put a price on carbon, and their economies have thrived,” says Hazell. “The price of inaction will be trillions of dollars in economic losses for the world’s economy.”

“The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our times,” says Mike Buckthought, Sierra Club Canada’s National Climate Change Campaigner. “If we fail to act, up to a billion people in Asia will be affected by water shortages, and millions of Africans will face starvation. In Canada, we will experience devastating losses from extreme weather events, forest fires, droughts and disease.”

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For more information:

Sierra Club Canada
www.sierraclub.ca