Keep climate a national priority
Extreme weather or disasters, like fires or floods caused by global warming, dramatically increase the cost of food, housing and healthcare, and threaten people’s wellbeing.
The key is viewing climate action not as a cost, but as an economic advantage, says Jessica Wegg, the federal Green Party candidate in northern Vancouver Island.
The affordability and housing crisis, healthcare and the looming threat of the Trump trade war are just some key issues that could be addressed by taking a green approach, said Wegg, a Comox resident and lawyer, currently providing criminal defense through Legal Aid BC.
“Climate change, writ large, is the filter that we look at everything through,” said Wegg, who is running in the North Island-Powell River riding.
“We all want this [area] to stay the most beautiful place on earth, but it means seeking smart choices.”
A self-described advocate for climate justice and economic equity, Wegg said the climate crisis is an affordability issue.
It’s her second bid to win the riding. As the Green candidate in the 2021 election, she secured six per cent of the vote. The riding historically leans either orange or blue; the NDP won the riding last election with 39.5 per cent of the vote, followed closely by the Conservatives at 36 per cent, and the Liberals trailing third with just over 13 per cent.
Voter support for the Greens is typically higher in South Island ridings, close to the federal party leader Elizabeth May, who has held the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding since 2011. Typically, the more an island riding’s economy is resource-based, the more poorly the Green Party does at the polls.
Construction, trades, tourism, and health and education jobs are outstripping declining traditional sectors, like fishing, forestry and agriculture, in the northern island riding, but the resource sector still represents 20 per cent of jobs in smaller communities and 13 per cent in Campbell River.
By developing sustainable resource sectors and renewable energy, Wegg said, Canada can create jobs and build economic resilience to buffer the financial impacts if U.S. President Donald Trump imposes sweeping tariffs as promised in April.
Pitching the expansion of fossil fuels to create jobs and grow the economy like the federal Conservatives and President Trump are doing is “short-sighted,” she said.
“The oil and gas era is over,” Wegg said.
“We need to be doing everything in our power in the fight against climate change.
“There are lots of jobs and opportunities for us in renewables. We can save the world and then, we don't need to be worrying about selling oil to the U.S.”
Despite the Conservative Party’s recent plummet in national polls,Tory candidate Aaron Gunn is still forecast as the riding’s front-runner. Like the party, Gunn is pitching the unfettered expansion of fossil fuels, while targeting conservation measures or climate policy as caving to “radical environmentalists.” While oil and gas production doesn’t occur in the riding, many workers displaced from other resource sectors commute to camp jobs in the oil and gas regions in northeast B.C. and Alberta.
Oil companies and logging corporations reap massive profits while voters bear the brunt of environmental destruction and the costs of climate change, Wegg said. It doesn’t have to be this way — workers in traditional resource industries have skills that can be transferred to sustainable resource sectors and the clean energy economy, she noted
“We have industries available for workers,” she said.
“We need to be stewards of these resources and there’s a balance we can find and money to be made for ordinary Canadians.”
Advancing green building standards and renewable infrastructure will reduce costs for homeowners and create climate-resilient housing that can withstand extreme weather, curb rising insurance costs and continue to generate jobs in the construction and energy sectors.
Helping producers develop sustainable agriculture and adapt to heat or drought, building local food distribution systems and promoting local produce would help stabilize farmers’ costs and consumers’ food prices, she added.
Wegg also stressed the need for policies that boost the well-being of ordinary Canadians over big business profits. Windfall profit taxes for grocery corporations should be put in place to discourage gouging food shoppers, she said. Additionally, more federal policy is needed to curb speculation and hedge fund investment and speculation in the housing market while encouraging the construction of affordable rental housing, she suggested.
Revamping traditional resource sectors, like mining or forestry, to ensure they support environmental health and economic growth moving forward, — such as ensuring wood or timber products are manufactured in B.C — would also help diversify markets and buffer the effects of increased lumber tariffs imposed south of the border.
“We have to think about the long-term effects,” Wegg said.
“We have to have sustainable industries that continue to last and feed our families into the future, and aren't just geared to the here and now.”
Other North Island — Powell River candidates are: Tanille Johnston (NDP), Aaron Gunn (Conservative), Jennifer Lash (Liberals), and Paul MacKnight (PPC).
Check back for more profiles and ongoing coverage of the federal election in B.C.’s coastal ridings.
Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer
This article was updated on what type of legal services Jessica Wegg currently provides.
Comments
There's no economy on a scorched planet - and lots of economy in transitioning to a zero-carbon world.