An Aboriginal Veterans Day ceremony was held this week at Wapanohk Community School in Thompson to teach students about Indigenous war heroes, to honour veterans for their contributions and to keep their hopes and dreams for a better world alive. Everyone is affected by war and during this week of Remembrance Day, northerners along with all Canadians are remembering family, friends and veterans directly affected by it. We honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice so we may be free, and we thank the many brave men and women who continue to work to protect our freedom.
Separately, Manitoba’s Minister of Sustainable Development, Rochelle Squires, has confirmed funding of up to $30,000 from the Waste Reduction and Recycling Support Fund is available to support the City of Thompson’s One Stop Drop recycling facility. This fund supports efforts to improve waste management practices in the north and throughout Manitoba.
Recycling, of course, is an important way to help the environment. Climate change is real, and Northern Manitobans are feeling its impacts – from flooding to extreme weather to melting ice roads. Doing nothing about it is not an option, and doing nothing in the face of a federal threat to impose a $50 per tonne carbon tax on Manitobans is not an option, either.
For this reason, our government has introduced the Manitoba Climate and Green Plan that respects our past investments in clean energy, promotes a reduction in carbon emissions faster and at a lower cost to Manitobans, and protects and supports our province’s economy while sustaining our environment for generations. Built on the strategic pillars of climate, jobs, water and nature, our made-in-Manitoba plan supports our vision to make Manitoba the cleanest, greenest and most climate-resilient province in Canada.
Our plan has a low and level carbon price of $25 per tonne beginning in 2018. Manitoba’s price will be half the amount of the tax mandated by Ottawa and will give our province the second-lowest carbon price in Canada by 2022. Our Manitoba plan also projects cumulative emissions to drop by more than one megatonne over the next five years – 80,000 tonnes more than through the federal carbon tax. And it encourages low-carbon economy jobs through green infrastructure, clean technology, innovation financing, and skills and training.
Our choice is Ottawa’s tax or the made-in-Manitoba plan. If we get Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tax, we don’t get a plan respectful of Manitoba’s massive hydro investments made over decades to build one of the world’s cleanest electricity systems.
We are inviting Manitobans to give their views on our Climate and Green Plan through an online survey at www.ManitobaClimateGreenPlan.ca.
Our plan costs less and reduces more than Ottawa’s carbon tax, and builds a prosperous low-carbon economy while putting Manitoba first. It’s better for the environment, better for the economy and designed to make a difference today for a better Manitoba tomorrow.
