Comments box last seen outside Alberta’s War Room (801 6 Ave SW, Calgary) August 19th around 1:30 pm – in the company of an undisclosed number of comment ballots and Albertans’ democratic right to express their opinion.
On August 19, citizens from several activist groups including Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future, Calgary Citizens for Climate Change and Idle No More inaugurated a public comments box outside the War Room (Canadian Energy Centre). The box, chained to a public site, was stolen before the next day,
The comment ballots invited Calgarians to register their disapproval of this misguided spending of taxpayer funds for the War Room, and suggest better uses of the $30M annual budget of the War Room ($82,190/day) – whether health, education, credible climate solutions, or telling the truth about our climate crisis.. Speaking of telling the truth, it is nice to see that the War Room has acknowledged that they were wrong in saying that oil and gas contributes to 10.6% of Canada’s GDP. It is actually 6.6%. With thanks to CBC’s Andrew Leach for pointing out their error. Or, as Leach put it: “Thankfully, the war room has since corrected its own fake news”. We also hope that War Room staff are no longer impersonating journalists.
The comment box is black with a distinctive XR logo on the front, with approximate dimensions of 22 inches tall by 10 inches wide and 9 inches deep (see picture). Democratic rights are described as freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.
Anyone with information about these missing items, please let us know at XR_ActionsYYC@protonmail.com.
While the comments’ box can be easily replaced, we are not so sure about Albertans’ democratic rights. If you are also worried about our democratic rights being taken away and/or discontented with the spending of public funds on the War Room, contact:
- Jason Kenney – premier@gov.ab.ca
- Sonya Savage, AB Environment Minister – energy.minister@gov.ab.ca
- or your MLA
Extinction Rebellion Calgary spokesperson and self-proclaimed recovering politician Dr David Swann says, “spending $30 million on an organization dedicated to searching out foreign funding on conscientious environmental groups and releasing inaccurate information is unacceptable. Responsible governments across the world are pressing for commitments to a just and aggressive energy transition. We see no indication of this from the Alberta government; rather a retrenchment in irresponsible pandering, subsidies and tax breaks for an industry that shows no indication of recognizing their contribution to the climate crises or of honoring its $260 billion cleanup responsibilities”
“The War Room is ignoring the fact that 79% of Albertans want to transition our economy towards renewable energy.” (Source: CBC)
Who is Extinction Calgary?
We are concerned and hopeful citizens of the earth. We are part of an international movement who understands that we are in an ecological crisis, that mass extinction is already happening, and that human extinction is a real risk. We believe we can turn our climate grief into non-violent direct action.
Extinction Rebellion has been active in Calgary for over a year. Previous XR actions have included the August 19th Defund the War Room action, January 22nd RejectTeck Frontier Mine protest at Teck Mines office, January 21st Vigil for our Burning World, and Christmas Climate Crisis Carolling. XR has also supported Fridays for Future and Idle No More/ Wet’suwet’en demonstrations in protecting their land.
What are Extinction Rebellion’s three demands?
- Governments must tell the truth about how serious our situation is. Governments must share a realistic appraisal of the situation based on the latest scientific understanding of the triple threats facing us: climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental destruction. Governments must clearly state the implications of a failure to address these threats.
- Governments must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero well before 2050. Governments must enact legally-binding policies that include what individuals, communities, and businesses need to do to halt biodiversity loss, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada to net zero well before 2050 – Canada’s new official target — and remove the excess of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
- The Federal Government must create a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice. A citizens’ body is needed to hold elected politicians to account for climate action on a day-to-day basis, separately from and in addition to the normal electoral process.