MP Paul Lefebvre co-hosted an all-party climate reception with us in June 2016. Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is an international, non-partisan, and grassroots organization that empowers citizens to build political will for what we see as the single most impactful solution to climate change—a national Carbon Fee and Dividend.[1] We have over 600 active chapters in 75 countries[2] and almost 210,000 members worldwide. In Canada, we cover almost 120 ridings and have 6500 members (September data).[3] We build political support for climate action with a variety of tools,[4] which we use in keeping with our local culture and politics. By focusing on shared values rather than partisan divides, we build relationships with our community, local leaders, and provincial and federal parliamentarians, always starting from a place of respect, gratitude, and appreciation.[5] Through developing respectful relationships, cultivating and demonstrating local support, and promoting a climate solution that has appeal across the political spectrum, we build political will. That is, we move our leaders towards action that will preserve a healthy climate and a livable world. Since its inception in September 2010, CCL Canada has lobbied relentlessly for Canada to adopt Carbon Fee and Dividend as our national carbon pricing policy. Spanning almost 10 years, we have recorded over 1000 meetings with parliamentarians, appeared over three thousand times on the editorial pages of Canadian newspapers, and have lobbied collectively 14 times on Parliament Hill. In May 2020, because of the COVID pandemic, we conducted our first online conference. In 2020, as of November 1, 2020, our volunteers have recorded 98 lobbying sessions with Parliamentarians in 2020 – almost all of them on Zoom. On October 13, 2018, Citizens Climate Lobby was on Parliament Hill for the 13th time. And thirteenth time lucky is what the foray onto Parliament Hill will be remembered as. While on the hill, there were indications that Carbon Fee and Dividend was going to be announced as the official backstop policy for pricing carbon pollution in Canada. Additionally, at that time the senator for Edmonton, AB Senator Grant Mitchell said, “you are one of the most successful lobbying groups I have worked with because you are about to get what you lobbied for.” Subsequently, three MPs and an Environment Minister in a Canadian province have confirmed that CCL’s relentless focus was helpful in determining the final structure of Canada’s carbon pricing policy. Our work is far from over, in fact, it feels like we have only just begun. As all seasoned environmental and social justice advocates know, gains made must then be defended. As well, we are in a global emergency, Canada’s current carbon pricing policy needs a lot of improvements, and we have a minority government which means an election can be called at any time. For these reasons, CCL Canada is doubling down on our efforts to build political will for effective carbon pricing nationally. We updated our Carbon Pricing Guidelines Document and we have already set-up a framework for scrutinizing the climate policies of Canada’s federal parties if a snap election is called. We are action-oriented, highly focused and we are not guessing. Most of all we like to have fun. In less than 10 hours a month, guided by our core values, especially our superpower, focus, our volunteers are continuing to create the political will locally for predictably rising and harmonized carbon pricing in Canada.
[1] “LASER TALK: Carbon Fee and Dividend | Citizens’ Climate Lobby ….” https://cclca.wpengine.com/laser-talks/carbon-fee-and-dividend/. Accessed 7 Aug. 2019. [2] “Chapters | Citizens’ Climate Lobby.” https://community.citizensclimate.org/tools/ccl-stats. Accessed 7 September 2020. [3] “Chapters – Find Your Local CCL Chapter – Citizens’ Climate Lobby.” https://cclca.wpengine.com/about-ccl/chapters/. Accessed 22 Jul. 2019. [4] “LASER TALK: The Five Levers of Political will | Citizens’ Climate ….” 2 Jul. 2019, https://cclca.wpengine.com/laser-talk-citizens-climate-lobbys-five-levers-of-political-will/. Accessed 7 Aug. 2019. [5] “Values – Citizens’ Climate Lobby.” https://cclca.wpengine.com/about-ccl/values/. Accessed 7 Aug. 2019.
About Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada
LASER TALK: About Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada
Home » CCL Canada News » LASER TALK: About Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada
