Seth Klein

Columnist | Vancouver |
English
About Seth Klein
Seth Klein is the team lead and director of strategy with the Climate Emergency Unit. Prior to that, he served for 22 years as the founding director of the British Columbia office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). He is a freelance policy consultant, speaker, researcher and writer, and author of A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency. Seth is an adjunct professor with Simon Fraser University’s urban studies program, and a board member of the BC Society for Policy Solutions.
Is Suzuki right that it's 'too late'? We are in an era of simultaneous wins and losses
All of us who work on climate have long walked a razor’s edge between hope and despair, and the last few months (or years) have made it near impossible to keep one’s balance. But I would put the current predicament differently than saying it’s “too late.”
There's always money for the military. But climate?
For years, the climate movement has been calling on the federal government to spend two per cent of GDP on climate infrastructure and action, to no avail. And yet, Canada’s military spending will hit two per cent of GDP this year, and will reach a stratospheric five per cent within 10 years.
Is this really the end of the federal NDP?
With the NDP reduced to just seven MPs and losing official party status, many are suggesting that Canada may now be moving to a two-party system, much like our American neighbours. Not so fast.
Important words from Seth Klein
There has never been a more important and urgent time to support independent journalism. In an era when mainstream media is shrinking; when ascendant right-wing politicians around the world are doing everything they can to discredit genuine news organizations; when young voters increasingly get their “news” from social media, and that same social media is awash in misinformation and disinformation – that is precisely when independent media you can trust most needs our financial support.
If we’re in an economic war, why aren’t we talking about war taxes?
Social solidarity requires fair taxation and shared sacrifice.
Four tips for progressives wondering about strategic voting
Tips for progressives wondering about strategic voting: Vote strategically, but do so wisely and attuned to your local context.
Crises are no time for timidity
Canada's response to Donald Trump's economic attacks will require imagination and audacity. Canada can and should mobilize its own public institutions and Crown corporations to do the heavy lifting.
Carney won’t win hearts with another elitist climate plan
Carney’s climate plan, in particular, risks handing fodder to Poilievre while failing to captivate the climate-anxious voter.
Canada should hit Trump where it hurts the most — oil and gas
Such an export tax would certainly face political challenges; Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the oil and gas companies themselves will blow a gasket. But a strong case can be made that layering an export tax on oil and gas is a fair approach within the overall Canadian response.
Vancouver council's gas plan goes up in smoke after fierce public pushback
Mobilizing to confront the climate emergency desperately requires forward momentum. Instead, thanks to the unrelenting persistence of the fossil gas industry, countless Vancouver-area climate activists and organizations just spent untold hours over the last four months re-prosecuting a fight they had already won.