86 organizations call on Trudeau to establish windfall tax on soaring oil and gas profits

Unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe Territories [OTTAWA], 28 March 2022:

Eighty-six civil society and grassroots organizations sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today, calling on him to impose a windfall tax on soaring oil and gas profits and to stand firm and redouble efforts on climate action in the face of profiteering attempts from the fossil fuel lobby.

The signatories, which include climate, development, health, student, and Indigenous organizations from coast to coast to coast, urge the government to resist attempts from the oil and gas industry to exploit the crisis in Ukraine for executives’ short-term gain.

“The only way to achieve energy security and climate safety is to break our addiction to oil and gas and accelerate the global transition to stable, renewable energy,” reads the letter. With the federal Emissions Reduction Plan due by March 31, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report on mitigation expected to highlight the gap between current climate measures globally and what’s required to maintain a livable planet, there can be no further delay in scaling down fossil fuel production.

The organizations call on the Prime Minister Trudeau to:

1. Implement a windfall tax on skyrocketing oil and gas profits and redirect the revenue to the communities and families most affected by the rising prices;
2. Swiftly implement his COP26 commitment to cap the oil and gas sector’s emissions at current levels, and prove its credibility by rejecting any new extraction projects such as Bay du Nord; and
3. Support workers and communities through a Just Transition.

While Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced yesterday that Canada would ramp up oil and gas exports, European countries do not need Canadian fossil fuels. Instead, they are choosing to accelerate the transition to clean energy, recognizing that energy efficiency measures and wind and solar power are not only more reliable but far cheaper and faster to scale up. New oil and gas infrastructure would take years to come online, and lock Canada into producing climate-destroying fossil fuels long after demand has peaked. Fossil fuel production has also caused great harm to Indigenous communities, through toxic tailings ponds and increased violence against women and girls.

“The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine must not be used as a pretext to justify expansion of destructive extractive industries, or to further entrench imperialism, militarism, and nationalism,” the groups urge. “Rather, it must galvanize global cooperation and solidarity in the face of intersecting crises.”

Read the full letter here.

Canada’s farthest-reaching network of organizations working on climate and energy issues, Climate Action Network – Réseau action climat (CAN-Rac) Canada is a coalition of more than 130 organizations operating from coast to coast to coast. Our membership brings environmental groups together with trade unions, First Nations, social justice, development, health and youth organizations, faith groups and local, grassroots initiatives.

For more information :

Anthony Côté Leduc, media relations,
514 605-2000 ; acoteleduc@equiterre.org

Vicky Coo, Communications Lead
613-203-3272, comms@climateactionnetwork.ca