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MP Charlie Angus has been "inundated" with death threats, swearing and homophobic slurs over his proposal to curb greenwashing by the fossil fuel industry.
Last month, the NDP’s natural resources critic tabled a private member’s bill that would ban misleading ads by the fossil fuel industry that market the industry as a solution to climate change. The calls to Angus’s constituency office began to pour in almost immediately after the bill was tabled, especially when the Conservative Party of Canada launched an online petition attacking the bill.
The petition claims that, if passed, the law would "criminalize the promotion of fossil fuels and prescribe jail time for Canadians who speak positively about the oil and gas industry."
That is false. The proposed law only targets fossil fuel companies running misleading ads about the climate or health impacts of fossil fuels, would not directly impact individuals and wouldn't send anyone to jail. The bill is modelled on existing 1997 laws regulating tobacco industry advertising to protect Canadians' health.
But Angus said a "rage machine" of people — mostly white males — who believe the Conservatives' "absolutely false" claims about the proposed bill has "debased public conversation" and is "putting people at risk."
"The Conservatives are stoking conspiracy and rage because they think it's gonna win them votes," he said.
Experts agree that burning fossil fuels is the main driver of climate change; oil and gas are also linked to about 34,000 premature deaths in Canada each year, according to the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE).
Yet, Canada lags behind its international peers in regulating fossil fuel greenwashing, with the European Union, the U.K., and other countries already restricting the practice over climate and health concerns.
Leah Temper, an environmental justice campaigner for CAPE, agreed. The Conservatives' campaign is"clearly disinformation" and is being used by the party to "completely ignore" discussions about the health and environmental consequences of fossil fuels instead of engaging with the problem. CAPE worked closely with Angus to craft the bill and is leading a suite of efforts to combat fossil fuel industry greenwashing.
Angus said that while he has also received resistance to the bill from industry groups for emphasizing their role in the climate crisis, the blowback from right-wing supporters enraged by Conservatives' false representation of the bill has been much more aggressive. It is a pattern he said is becoming increasingly common, with a mostly male “rage farm" attacking him over any challenges to the oil and gas sector
That isn't surprising, with researchers noting fossil fuel companies have spent years leveraging white males' sense of identity and self-worth to indirectly fight climate rules. Coined by Virginia Tech climate sociologist Cara Daggett, this culture of "petro-masculinity" is defined by harmful expressions of masculinity, right-wing extremism and attacks on climate actions.
According to the International Panel on Climate Change, false and misleading information about fossil fuels and their climate impacts is a major threat to countries' climate policies because of the political backlash this misinformation can inspire.
Angus said that dynamic is increasingly evident in his day-to-day work. Over the past four years, death threats have become part of a "normal operating day for an MP" and he said Conservatives' rage has made it "nearly impossible" to discuss legitimate political differences. Responsibility for that dynamic, he said, lies heavily with efforts by right-wing politicians to sidestep policy discussions and instead fuel the "rage farm" for political gain.
It is an effort he plans to fight.
"The climate crisis is here and we need to talk about emissions, we need to talk about oil and gas," he said. "Maybe they don't want us to have that conversation, so they get the rage farm (going). But we're gonna have that damn conversation."
Comments
One of the best and bravest parliamentarians is threatened by rage farm knuckle dragers for calling out false and misleading advertising from the oil and gas industry.
god bless charlie angus. please keep him alive!!!
maybe rcmp could give him a protective detail and their hate speech research branch could investigate the death threats, lay charges, find source of misinformation and prosecute?.
just saying. within HOURS they're jumping on “illegal “ protestors who want Canada to stop murdering children as a “danger. “ to the country.
let’s get on the rage farm sht stirrers. ooops. might they be in the main offices of p p? and
protected by big oil?
Sad and disgusting news!
No way should the or anyone go through that.
What is wrong with people?
Obviously on multiple levels, MAGA politics has indeed invaded Canada and the Conservative Party led by Pierre Poiliever is fully responsible fo that.
The bill must go through. And maybe? more people will learn about it, even if there were far better ways to achieve that outcome.
Carry on with your work Charlie!
we also need to examine the greenwashing by the forest industry and expose the true carbon emissions and the impact of forestry contributing to climate change. Likely more rath for Charlie Angus to come. He's a brave and gutsy fellow!
Check this out:
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/03/07/Secret-Map-Shows-BC-Playing-Shel…
I can't decide which is worse, "greenwashing" or governments out-and-out lying to us. In this case, it's about footsies with industry, and (presumably) hoping to pull the wool over eyes of the citizenry.
The people pushing this bullshit have deep pockets. He should sue the pants off them for libel. The info that would come out from discovery alone would make it all worth it.
Meanwhile, in my tiny counter to the rage-farming knuckle-draggers and their vile sponsors,
GO CHARLIE GO!
God bless & guard Charlie. Canada has an infection: our care for community is being weakened by selfishness & greed.
Gotta love Charlie Angus for telling the truth, as I would love any man who did so. Regardless of your politics, please stand up for the truth. Our progeny deserve the truth. The weather over our heads tells the truth. It's time to take the climate issue as an emergency. All hands on deck.
Charlie Angus for PM!
Hear, hear!
Canada is on the same path as the USA with its maga trumper cultists. PP and Daniel Smith are just as extreme as Trump or Gregg Abbott. Some Canadians are now on the same level as red hat wearing, trump rally attending Americans.
“It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills.”
― Adrian Rogers.
Good on you Charliefor demanding honesty, ethics and integrity from the deceivers.
The lying exploitive industries do not like to be accountable and have convinced the low in intelligence to go along with it. These greenwasher should be shut down, they are just little Goebbels. - "If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself." ~ Joseph Goebbels
Mega morons need threats to get their point across, as this tripe is all they have. "A simple mind is a gullible mind. People who are simple-minded are easily deceived, manipulated, and taken advantage of."