(LifeSiteNews) – Canada’s environment minister is threatening to punish Saskatchewan if it ignores a ban on coal.
On Wednesday, May 17, during the question period in the House of Commons, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault declared that violating environmental regulations banning the use of coal and gas-fired power after 2035 could result in criminal sanctions. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe had stated that the province would continue to run their plants.
“What kind of penalties would Saskatchewan face if they don’t phase out coal?” asked a reporter.
“We have regulated the ban on coal through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act which is a criminal tool that the federal government has,” replied Guilbeault. “Not complying with this regulation would be a violation of Canada’s Criminal Code.”
“We want to have net aero, a carbon neutral grid by 2035,” said Guilbeault. “I can’t be more specific than that. We will be publishing soon the draft regulations on that.”
According to the Environmental Protection Act, corporations that violate the terms could face a maximum of $1-million-a-day fines, while individuals could face three years’ imprisonment.
During a Tuesday press conference, Moe said that completely outlawing coal and natural gas from power generation by 2035 is both expensive and impractical.
“The federal government’s standards for zero emission electrical generation by 2035 are unrealistic and unaffordable,” he said.
“They mean SaskPower rates would more than double, and we may not have enough generation to keep the lights on,” Moe continued. “I am not going to let that happen.”
“In order to keep rates affordable, existing assets including natural gas plants will be used until end of life,” he said, adding that Saskatchewan could reach net zero status by 2050.
This is not the first time that Moe has challenged environmental policies imposed by the Trudeau government. In 2022, he blasted Trudeau’s environmental policy goals, stating that a “fossil fuel phase-out by 2035″ is “going to make for an awfully cold house in Saskatoon on Jan. 1, 2036.” He added, “One needs to look no further than the European Union” to see the impacts of such policies.
UPDATE (05/30/23): Major victory as York Catholic District School Board votes against raising LGBT flag
Your committment to this campaign has paid off - please continue circulating the petition far and wide, and read below about our huge victory at YCDSB thanks to people like you.
(LifeSiteNews) - During a May 29 York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) meeting, trustees voted 6-4 against flying the pro-LGBT flag atop of its schools and other buildings in celebration of so-called “Pride Month”, in a move that has been met with pleasant surprise by pro-family advocates.
While the decision brought cheers from the crowd, some angrily shouted in protest and had to be escorted out by YCDSB security.
“The Cross represents all!” Myles Vosylius, a former student at Cardinal Carter Catholic High School in Aurora, Ontario, tweeted, celebrating the decision.
“The cross represents all!” - Faithful Catholic attending the @YCDSB meeting tonight, where the victorious decision was made NOT to fly the ‘pride’ flag! #YCDSB #CdnPoli #OnPoli pic.twitter.com/CSNCEQbS0c
— Myles Vosylius (@TheMylesV) May 30, 2023
While the YCDSB represents a victory for faithful Catholics in York region, many Catholic school boards have caved to pressure by LGBT activists and will fly “pride flags” during the month of June. However, increasingly, Ontario parents are fighting back as hundreds of students, reportedly predominantly Muslim, stayed home earlier this month when their schools flew the flag.
Parents have also begun to speak out against LGBT agenda being promoted to their children in schools. Pro-LGBT trustee for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) Wendy Ashby recently resigned after over 3,000 parents petitioned for her ousting.
Similarly, last month, a group of young Canadians protested a school-sponsored drag queen event in front of York Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto.
Furthermore, Campaign Life Coalition is calling for parents to keep their children home from school on June 1 to protest schools flying the “pride flag.”
“Parents need to keep up the pressure, just like this, right across the country!” Fonseca encouraged.
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As Catholics, we are taught that we must love our neighbour and treat every individual as a child of God, accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.
Parents make a clear choice when they decide that their children will attend a Catholic school. They rightly expect that trustees, principals, teachers all partners in education will ensure that Catholic teaching is presented, lived and infused in all that we do. In that regard, the appropriate symbol that represents our faith, and the inclusion and acceptance of others, is the cross, which is visible at the entrance of every Catholic school. It is the primary symbol of our Christian faith.
We have created this petition to express opposition of flying the pride flag at schools for the month of June. Our kids should not be forced to celebrate anyones sexuality, and a flag will do nothing to keep anyone more safe. Its nothing more than a symbol of sexual celebration, completely inappropriate.
Catholicism and parental rights are being threatened, and we will not allow teachers who are LGBTQ to influence our children.
We are not homophobes. We are trying to shield our children from any sexual ideologies, both gay and straight. Children are minors who have a right to a normal and innocent childhood. We are not STAKEHOLDERS. We are parents. EQUITY is not and will never be the same as EQUALITY. Inclusion means EVERYONE and the York Region Catholic District School Board & its Union members are infringing upon our religious beliefs by suffocating our children with woke political agendas & indoctrinations when they should be focusing on educating our kids!
We love all humans equally. Hate is the wrong word to describe parents feelings about the climate in schools today. Parents protesting the pride flag at school do not harbour any negative feelings towards the LGBTQ+ community. We do however feel that their rights seem to supersede everyone elses. We also believe that kids should never learn about sex at school and we condemn any classroom discussion or public display that encourages or promotes gender confusion and same sex lifestyles in a classroom setting. We also strongly condemn the nature of several library books that contain sensitive material on homosexuality and transgender issues in elementary school libraries. Similarly, we harbour no contempt for transgenders as individuals but their insistence on using female-only spaces is invasive.
The promotion of a pride sticker and the likelihood that a flag will go up in June at all schools suggests a particular political agenda, which warrants examination. Concern about alleged incidents of bullying directed at the LGBTQ community within schools has been raised. However when requesting specific information on the actual number of such reports, it was communicated that the data is currently confidential and not publicly available. Despite clarifying that only the number of incidents was desired, the same response was given.
The lack of transparency and information provided by the York Region Catholic District School Board concerning alleged incidents combined with these extreme campaigns using safe space stickers to promote political agendas, raises necessary questions about their motives. Despite facing opposition from relevant individuals, including the Archbishop of Toronto and Cardinal Collins, who have both explicitly expressed their disapproval of such displays, the union and its members have vehemently insisted the stickers remain.
We must stand up against this before the Board caves to the pressure of political correctness and decide to raise the pride flag too.
Please share this. We must get as many signatures as possible before May 20th so that we may present a united front at this months meeting with this petition in hand that will speak for itself and will represent all of us.
Thank you.
Sheree D
“I would say for the rest of the world to observe and it’s on full display for the world to observe. The energy costs in the European Union over the last number of years due to enacting these solely environmental focus policies have been skyrocketing,” the politician said.
The Trudeau government’s current environmental goals – in lockstep with the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” – include phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.
The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil-fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.
Pushing back against federal interference in the energy sector, the government of Saskatchewan introduced the Saskatchewan First Act on November 1 to “confirm Saskatchewan’s autonomy and exclusive jurisdiction over its natural resources.”
Specifically, the new piece of legislation will amend the province’s constitution so that the province has “sovereign autonomy and asserts Saskatchewan’s exclusive legislative jurisdiction under the Constitution of Canada over a number of areas,” such as the “exploration for non-renewable natural resources.”
The Saskatchewan First Act will also allow the province to choose what fuel it wants to use to power its electrical grid, independent of the dictates of the federal government.
Alberta is also resisting the new regulations. Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith has applauded Moe’s Saskatchewan First Act and said that in Alberta her soon-to-be-released Sovereignty Act will likewise assert the province’s autonomy over its abundant natural resources and prevent federal government overreach.
While Trudeau’s plan has been pushed under the guise of “sustainability,” his intention to decrease nitrous oxide emissions by limiting the use of fertilizer has been criticized by farmers. They say this will reduce profits and could lead to food shortages.
Moreover, experts are warning that the Trudeau government’s new “clean fuel” regulations, which come into effect next year, will cost Canadian workers – many of whom are already struggling under decades-high inflation rates – an average $1,277 extra annually.