Letter to Leader of the Opposition

Michael Ignatieff, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa ON
K1A 0A6

(insert current date)

Dear Mr Ignatieff

We see that you and your party supported the government’s budget and we, too, support measures to stimulate the economy. However, we regret that you did not take the opportunity to insist on measures beneficial to the environment. The stimulus package should have included funding for green energy, public transportation, energy efficient buildings, and the like.

Canada does not have a comprehensive climate action strategy and we urge you to press for one. We are concerned that you appear to be supporting the tar sands, the major reason why our greenhouse gas emissions are going up, despite our Kyoto commitment to (modest) reductions.

We note that you personally have supported the carbon tax, and we commend you for that. We regret that the whole issue has been sidetracked. It is hard to imagine an effective carbon reduction program without an economy-wide market mechanism, such as a carbon tax.

Yours sincerely