Ottawa announces plan to phase out ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies

Change Minister Steven Guilbeault announced the plan in Montreal Monday as Canada continues to grapple with one of the worst wildfire seasons ever recorded and devastating flooding in Nova Scotia.

“We’re eliminating subsidies to produce fossil fuels in Canada, unless those subsidies are aimed at de-carbonizing the emissions of the sector,” Guilbeault said.

Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Department of Finance developed the guidelines.

The essential question is: “What should you do when someone uses mean or hurtful language on the internet?” Students must be taught to understand that it is very important to think about the words they use because everyone interprets things differently. They need to identify ways to respond to mean words online and, decide what kinds of statements are good to say online and which are not!

Students can use the social media to bully others in the form of racist, sexist or homophobic remarks. There had been situations where the bullied had taken their lives in solitary. The dangers of Cyberbullying are frightening and ways and means must be constantly used to stop them in our schools. Parents expect schools to provide environments that are emotionally and physically safe for their children. As parents, we normally feel enraged and frightened by any environment that poses a threat to the wellbeing of our children, especially in schools. According to the psychologist and bullying expert, Evelyn Field, bullies and targets of bullies often have undeveloped assertive communication needs. Assertive communication is the open expression of one’s needs, feelings, thoughts and desires. It involves speaking for your needs while respecting the needs of others. Cyberbullying, though relatively new on the bullying field, it is spreading very fast as modern communication technology advances. My humble advice to teachers and parents as we prepare for a new school year soon is that they should look for early signs of Cyberbullying among their children. They must pay attention to changes in their child’s behaviour and encourage their children to talk about what happens at school.

Ottawa published its plan for eliminating inefficient fossil fuel subsidies today — making Canada the first country among wealthy, heavyemitting nations to do so, according to the federal government.

In 2009, the countries that make up the G20 publicly promised to “phase out and rationalize ... inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” over the “medium term.”

Such subsidies “encourage wasteful consumption, reduce our energy security, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with the threat of climate change,” said the G20 communique.

Environment and Climate

Guilbeault said there are exceptions to the government’s new directive. Federal dollars can still flow to fossil fuel projects if they:

• Enable significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions

• Support clean energy, clean technology and renewable energy

• Support Indigenous economic participation in fossil fuel activities cont’d on pg. 12