A vote for climate is a vote for the next generation
Citizens Climate Lobby analysis of political party platforms on climate as of 2019
A vote for climate is a vote for the next generation
By Cecile Wilson
[Atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa, Hawaii on 24 March 2025: 429.44]
On March 24 a coalition of climate groups launched a “Baby Carriage” campaign, encouraging Canadians to “vote for the next generation.” Co-organized by Citizens Climate Lobby Canada, Grand(m)others Act to Save the Planet (GASP), For Our Grandchildren (4RG), and Seniors for Climate Action Now! (SCAN) Ottawa, the crowd gathered on Parliament Hill one day after Prime Minister Mark Carney called a federal election.
Protect what we love
The key message of the event was to act now to protect who and what we love from the threats posed by an overheated climate. Cathy Orlando, National Director for Citizens Climate Lobby, emphasized the large impact people can make by voting for a candidate whose party has an effective climate plan.
Orlando referred to an analysis of the 2019 climate platforms of the five major political parties. Of the two front-running parties, the Liberal platform included a carbon tax, regulations that reduced methane emissions and phased out coal use, and a clean fuel standard. The Conservative platform proposed cutting the carbon tax and the clean fuel standard, and replacing other existing policies with “voluntary programs and modest subsidies.” Focusing on how the proposed policies of the two parties would affect the amount of greenhouse gas pollution (the main driver of an overheated climate), the analysis concluded that by 2030 the Liberal plan would result in 100 fewer megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year than the Conservative plan.
Collective political action brings the best results
According to Citizens’ Climate Lobby, if we consider the voters to be responsible for the victory of a political party, then “the average pro-climate voter” in 2019 would be responsible for a 34.2 tonne reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2030. This level of reduction is equivalent to taking 14 cars off the road for one year, recycling for 162 years or upgrading 342 years worth of incandescent light bulbs to low emission ones!
Climate and nature still high priorities
Climate issues have not dropped off the election map, despite Canadians’ concern over affordability and Trump’s threats to our economic and political sovereignty. A Leger poll done in the second week of March for the David Suzuki Foundation found that 67 per cent of respondents agreed that climate action and the protection of nature should be a “high priority” for the next federal government. Sixty-five per cent agreed that Canada should invest in renewable energy rather than fossil fuels, and 62 per cent agreed that Canada should keep its climate commitments, despite what the U.S. does.
Statistics on the amount the financial damage caused by intense weather events indicate that Canadians are wise to consider climate action an important contributor to economic security. The Insurance Bureau of Canada reported that in 2024, insured damages caused by severe weather passed the $8 billion mark for the first time. This amount is nearly triple the total insured losses for 2023 and twelve times the annual average of $701 million for 2001 to 2010. Over one billion of those damages occurred in Ontario due to flooding. Such high costs are certain to lead to increased insurance premiums and may even result in the denial of insurance for people in susceptible areas, like we have seen for some residents in the case of California wildfires.
Which brings us back to voting.
What you can do
Vote: For the greatest potential impact; vote for climate action in the April 28 election. Advance polls are on April 18, 19, 20 and 21.
Talk: Talk to your candidates, whatever party they belong to, about their policies for fighting the warming climate and the economic pressures it is bringing to bear. Talk to your neighbours, friends and family members. Use the information you can find at citizensclimatelobby.org to get the conversation started.
Support: Local groups are working to raise awareness of both the broad and specific effects of climate change. Earth Day is April 22.
Check out:
- Our Planet, Our Power: Working Together for the Next Generations, April 23 at the Knox Presbyterian Hall, 120 Lisgar, starting at 12:30.
- The Centretown Environment Committee’s Eco Fair at McNabb Park on April 26, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
In the inspiring words of Alex Neufeldt, one of the youth plaintiffs in the Ontario Mathur et al case, “To the naysayers who say the world is doomed and there’s no point in taking action, I say, ‘Get out of the way for those of us who are crazy enough to think we’re going to be able to do it!’”
Cecile Wilson is a member of Seniors for Climate Action Now and lives in the Glebe.