Questions To Ask Candidates At The Door

Cast a ballot for the environment in the 2021 federal election

Cast a ballot for the environment in the 2021 federal election

This election, you can help make climate solutions, nature protection, and environmental justice top issues when New Brunswickers go to the polls on Sept. 20, 2021.

Use the questions below to see where candidates in your community stand on critical environmental issues. 

Nature and Climate Change

Nature and Climate Change

In August, 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report on the state of the climate. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres has called the findings “code red for humanity.” The report confirms many fears—that we are already experiencing human induced climate change, and headed for 1.5 degrees of warming by the 2030s. This report serves as a stark reminder of the urgency of the crisis we face.

Healthy and robust ecosystems provide efficient, successful, and cost-effective tools to reinforce the local economy, protect people’s health and security, buffer communities from extreme weather like flooding, ice storms and sea-level rise, and reduce greenhouse gas levels.

The Government of Canada has committed to meeting the Paris Agreement’s emissions reduction target by 2050. In order to reach this target, Canada must continue to support nonprofits, local governments, and industries to maintain and enhance the biodiversity and carbonstorage capacity of forests, grasslands, farmlands, wetlands, freshwater, coastal and marine
ecosystems.

Conservation

Conservation

Protecting, restoring, and managing land and ocean to flourish reduces the risks and impacts from extreme climatic events, curbs species and biodiversity decline, and promotes healthy communities for Canadians. The Government of Canada has committed to our largest nature conservation target in Canadian history; however, without investments in funding to manage and steward these protected areas we will not reach these targets or effectively conserve nature for the long-term. In New Brunswick, with one of the country’s lowest protected area rate at 4.7 per cent, providing additional support to ensure the Province of New Brunswick reaches its current goal of 10 per cent protection, as well as removing any barriers to establishing and stewarding new protected land and ocean is vital.

The protection of marine areas provides a number of benefits to Canadians, including contributing to a healthy environment through conserving and protecting marine species and contributing to economic well being by supporting sustainable industries, local economies and coastal communities.

Private Land Protection

Private Land Protection

Within New Brunswick, a large portion of the land is privately owned. Privately protected land can increase connectivity between habitats allowing species to travel for food, shelter and reproduction. When combined with Protected Areas, private lands are critical for expanding the
landscape that is managed for ecosystem resilience especially under climate change.
Engagement with and uptake of private land management programs focused on conservation are important to promote shared responsibility and shared solutions for land protection at the local level.

Indigenous Engagement

Indigenous Engagement

The Government of Canada must take a leadership role in implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action and in empowering Indigenous Nations to develop Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs). IPCAs balance conservation and Indigenous rights and can play a role in both the path to reconciliation and the Canada Pathway to Target 1, which include the development of IPCA’s in the goal to conserve 17 percent of Canada’s lands and freshwater by 2023.

It is vital to promote Indigenous leadership in conservation, including decision-making and ongoing stewardship of protected areas and in determining new conservation goals and activities. The Indigenous Circle of Experts (ICE) encourages the civil society sector to support capacity building and partnership with Indigenous governments and organizations for the planning, implementing, and managing of IPCAs and broader conservation efforts. The Government of Canada must take an active role in removing barriers in the shared path of developing and managing of IPCAs and partnered conservation efforts.

We need to ensure Indigenous Nations receive the support to establish their proposed IPCA projects, and we need support in the development of meaningful relationships and partnerships between Indigenous Nations and environmental organizations

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