At this moment, the campaign would be to encourage students, staff, and community members to write and or call Senators (no stamps required, and a toll free number) and encourage them to pass Bill C 311, the Climate Change Accountability Act. Bill C-311 has passed its second reading in the Canadian Senate and is now “in Committee.” (Following which, it will go into 3rd reading, and then face a vote.) The House of Commons passed the bill on May 5th. Bill C-311 legislates reductions in Canadian greenhouse gas emissions to a level that is 80% below 1990 emissions by 2050. This includes setting interim targets for 2015-2045 (such as the specific target of 25% below 1990 levels in 2020). Wikipedia has a great little article on “The Climate Change Accountability Act” which fills in a few more details, including its history.
You can find the text of the Bill, and check on its status in the Senate, by visiting:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/lop/legisinfo/index.asp?Language=E&Session=23&query=6747&List=toc
Send an e-mail to Senators and fact sheets:
http://www.trunity.net/climateresponse/topics/view/53728/
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Change_Accountability_Act_(Bill_C-311)
The Climate Change Accountability Act was originally tabled in October 2006 in the Canadian House of Commons as Bill C-377 by Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada. It passed 3rd reading in that House with the support of caucuses of the Liberal Party of Canada, the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP (the Conservative Party of Canada, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, voted against it). However, due to the 2008 Canadian federal election ending the parliamentary session prematurely, the bill did not achieve royal assent despite reaching the Senate. C-377 therefore died when the election was called. // On February 10, 2009 Bruce Hyer, New Democrat Deputy Environment Critic and MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, seconded by Layton, reintroduced it as a Private Member's Bill, renamed as Bill C-311. An April 1, 2009 Second Reading vote resulted in passage of C-311 to Committee Stage by a vote of 141 to 128. After months of delays,
a contentious request by the House Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development for more time to consider C-311 was granted with the Official Opposition supporting the government on an Oct 21, 2009 vote in the House of Commons. The result of the vote was 93 against delay versus 169 in favour of more time. Passage of the Climate Change Accountability Act was therefore effectively delayed until 2010, meaning it would not influence the government in negotiations at the UN COP15 global climate change treaty negotiations held in December 2009 in Copenhagen.
The December 30, 2009 prorogation delayed progress of the bill but did not kill it, as Private Member's Bills do not expire on prorogation.//
A procedural motion performed by the government caucus as final debate on the bill was about to begin on March 31, 2010, triggered a Report Stage vote, which most bills do not face.
After public outcry in support of C-311, the bill passed the April 14 Report Stage challenge with a vote of 155 to 137. // The bill was passed by the House of Commons on May 5, 2010 with 149 votes for and 136 votes against. It received First Reading in the Senate on May 6, 2010 and is now at Second Reading stage in the upper chamber. Provisions : The Bill requires that the Canadian federal government set regulations to attain a medium-term target to bring greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, and a long-term target to bring emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. According to the summary, the purpose of this bill is: "to ensure that Canada meets its global climate change obligations under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change by committing to a long-term target to reduce Canadian greenhouse gas emissions to a level that is 80% below the 1990 level by the year 2050, and by establishing interim targets for the period 2015 to 2045. It creates an obligation on the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to review proposed measures to meet the targets and submit a report to Parliament. It also sets out the duties of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy."[1]// The Climate Change Accountability Act is based on the Case for Deep Reductions report by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and on guidelines set by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. These are the same emissions targets adopted by the European Union and announced as objectives of U.S. President Obama's New Energy For America strategy. The Bill is noteworthy in that it was the first legislation in the world to pass a democratically-elected parliament which mandated hard emissions reductions for the post-Kyoto Protocol period (after 2012).
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