Make Manitoba ‘part of the solution’

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This article was published 24/03/2024 (632 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A coalition of environmental groups hopes to combat climate change by mailing dozens of postcards to the provincial legislature.

The postcards, addressed to Premier Wab Kinew, call on the province to enshrine its emissions reduction targets into legislation so “Manitoba can be part of the solution” to climate change.

“Manitobans want protection from the health consequences and economic costs of frequent extreme weather events,” read the postcards, which were distributed during a Manitoba Climate Action Team event on Sunday.

“Our lives and the lives of future generations depend on this decisive action.”

The action team — which includes representatives from Climate Change Connection, Wilderness Committee, Green Action Centre, Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives — wants the province to reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent before 2030, said communication manager Bethany Daman.

The latest provincial targets, previously announced by the Progressive Conservative government, aim to reduce such emissions by roughly 27 per cent before 2027.

NDP Environment Minister Tracy Schmidt has not announced any changes to the targets since taking office last October.

Her portfolio includes responsibility for Efficiency Manitoba — the government arm in charge of cutting back on provincial energy use — and the minister has been tasked with helping guide Manitoba toward net-zero emissions by 2050.

Enshrining emissions targets into legislation will ensure future politicians remain accountable beyond “the four-year cycle of government,” Daman said.

“Our goal is to bring people together who are concerned about climate change to be able to amplify their voices in a way that really ends up motivating shifts at a provincial level,” Daman said, speaking from the lobby of the Park Theatre in south Osborne where she helped host an Earth Month kick-off party.

April is internationally recognized as a month of environmental education, acknowledgment and activism that culminates annually with Earth Day on April 22.

“We as Manitobans are incredibly concerned about climate change, but this isn’t something we can tackle on our own. We need policy and system level changes,” she said.

Public officials, including Kinew and Schmidt, were not formally invited to attend the party, Daman said.

Around 3 p.m., roughly an hour after the event began, a few dozen of the postcards had been signed by attendees and were waiting to be mailed. Daman expected to gather more signatures before the event ended at 8 p.m.

The party also featured climate change petitions, climate change literature, arts and crafts, live music and a pop-up clothing and audio record swap meet.

Winnipeg senior Pat Wally was among those who signed one of the postcards destined for the legislature.

“We need to make sure the government knows that the community — young, old and middle aged — is concerned. I feel the general public is ahead of the curve over government and they need to know we are all watching,” she said.

Wally, who is in her 70s, is part of a fledgling group of senior climate activists that is searching for Manitoba members.

She attended the event in the hopes of meeting other seniors who share her concerns about the environment. While she was mostly greeted by young and middle-aged people during the time she was at the party, the turnout gave her hope, she said.

Daman said the Climate Action Team will continue to collect and mail postcards to the premier throughout April.

Several other events, including a virtual seminar on Indigenous architecture, group hikes through the Assiniboine Forest, information sessions and sustainability workshops will take place during the month.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca