Dear Editor:
Thinking outside the box, it would appear to me that the words by a 15-year-old Swedish girl, on the other side of this continent, in the city of New York, should determine a Canadian general election.
It is deplored that all federal parties seem to roll with the ball, and do not know what to do with it, on short, medium or long terms.
Canadian election should not be “single issue” election.
Jacob de Raadt, Osoyoos
Dear Editor:
I’m proposing a radical change in how to vote, i.e., how one decides which party to support.
We teach our children how to walk, drive, cook, budget, play sports and so on. Why do we direct them how to vote? There is constant angst in the media about how to get out the youth vote. As a 65-year-old, I have a suggestion for us older folks. We have the power to make the younger vote matter.
We need to ask them which Party they support (and why), and then we vote the way they want. That is how we can help make their vote matter and how we can support them in designing their planet. It’s not ours anymore. They have to live with the consequences of voting for far longer than us older folks.
It’s a huge leap, as it’s a complete reversal of the power balance but if that’s what it takes to get youth to vote, so be it.
Tom Rankin, Kamloops
Dear Editor:
The Fridays For the Future youth strike last Friday was inspiring. Around the world, millions of youth and their supporters marched and demanded real climate action from the adults. By “real action” I assume the youth mean action that avoids the forecasted global catastrophe and delivers the Paris Accord goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C.
All the major federal political parties have recognized this climate crisis is largely human-caused and have made commitments to address this climate crisis. However, mostly absent from the election conversation so far has been how likely the platforms are to deliver Canada’s commitments/targets in the Paris Accord.
In my Google search I found two independent analyses, one by Clean Prosperity Canada and one from Simon Fraser University. Implementing the Liberal platform would reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically, but still fall short of reaching Canada’s current greenhouse gas emission target, and implementing the Conservative platform would not reduce emissions at all and may even increase emissions. I have not found credible greenhouse gas emission analyses that address the NDP’s or Green’s platform.
To deserve our vote and given the urgency of the climate crisis, each party must upgrade their platform. At least upgrade to ensure promised actions reduce emissions enough to be consistent with the 1.5 C goal and help ensure a livable world for our youth.
Mike Geisler, Bonnington, B.C.
