Open Letter in response to Joe Oliver By John Bennett, Sierra Club Canada Executive Director

The Federal Government is engaged in an unprecedented campaign to damage the credibility of the environmental movement. In the latest move, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver (apparently replacing Environment Minister Peter Kent as the chief anti-environmentalist government spokesperson) submitted an “open letter” to the media. In it, he links “radicals and environmental groups” and charges they are against everything.

As a father of three grown daughters and grandfather of one beautiful baby boy, I struggle with being called a radical. It’s true I work for a conservation organization. Sierra Club was founded in 1892 and has a long track record of drawing public attention to environmental issues and, perhaps more importantly, helping governments develop laws and policies to protect Canada’s magnificent natural heritage. Nearly every day I’m am contacted by individuals or groups asking for help with an environmental issue in their neighbourhoods. Read more…