c g7 ¢ —_ (<9) a °? Og ee oO nyo" Zon (e) ca Sg fy] Oe ae Pe von oO Ww — oD a: oo ae 7) 5 ite) ee tet sat U el ae si a al eo @ i —__aiiaid tO ge 3 y Zs oc; iano vw ros) = NI £9 a wit Yr hes 1 3 0 —_ 3) 9 2 Lo ver the Edge December 15, 2010 Civil Rights How the Police Walked on Them Page 5 New Years! Celebrate like it’s 1999 Page 11 Yass. Se ol eG Strip Mob Reveals Political Flaws Students take Action to Defend Democracy and the Planet THOMAS CHENEY CONTRIBUTOR es a5 Students Bare Frustration at Climate Inaction Agroup of students at UNBC recently staged a flash strip mob for climate action in the cafeteria. The intention of this action was to raise awareness about our government's recent rejection of proposed climate legislation. The Conservative Party Members in the Senate recently killed a private members bill entitled the Climate Change Accountability Act (Bill C-311). Although the Senate has killed bills in the past, the rejection of a bill without debate has not occurred since the 1930s. The Senate performs its role as a chamber of “sober, second thought”, which gives it the right to reject bills which it sees to be unfit. As a general rule, the Senate is not characterized by a flurry of legislative activity like the House of Commons. Therefore, it has a significant amount of time to review legislation. In the case of Bill C-311, it seems that the chamber of unelected political appointees would not take the time away from. their golf games to discuss an issue that is vital to the future of humanity; climate change: The unfortunate :fact is, if we do not take decisive action on reducing climate change by stopping carbon dioxide emissions, the quality of life for future generations will be dramatically reduced. Recent research from Hans Joahim Schnellhuber, one of Europe’s top climate prediction experts, suggests that if we take no action to control emissions, it is highly probable that the world’s population will fall to less than one billion over the coming centuries. This will come as a result of increased drought and other climate related 5) | : STUDENTS FOR A GREEN UNIVERSITY damages to agriculture. This is not a small issue; inaction on climate change is equivalent to genocide. Canada has contributed much to the global community through efforts such as peace keeping and the Land Mine Treaty. Therefore it would be a shame if our lack of action on climate change led to obstruction in the global arena and deaths of untold millions throughout the global community. As a Canadian citizen | strongly object to the current policy of practical inaction which will likely lead to a future of climate chaos and human suffering. Following the strip mob, which attracted significant local media coverage, some criticisms have been made of the action, most notably by Jason Morris, a lecturer in the Political Science Program at UNBC, and former constituency assistant for Conservative MP Dick Harris. | believe that many of the assertions made by Morris on his blog jpolsblog.wordpress.com, are careless. One of Morris’ main criticisms of the protest was that the participants possessed a substandard understanding of the legislative process. Morris bases his judgments on some of the comments made at the protest, namely that the rejection of Bill C-311 indicates that democracy has failed. Morris makes the simplistic assumption that the protesters think that democracy amounts to them getting their way. However, no such statement was made. From our perspective, it is the killing. of a piece of legislation without debate by. unelected political partisans that is undemocratic. A Volume 17, Issue 8 bill has not been passed by the House of Commons and been rejected without debate since the 1930s. As Morris should know, the Canadian parliamentary system relies heavily on convention. Furthermore, the Conservative Party, until it was elected to the reins of power, was opposed to an unelected Senate. !s it not convenient that when the Tories can advance the interests of Big Oil, they hide .. behind positivist arguments that they have the legal = ability to break parliamentary convention and break j their campaign promise? This affront to democracy was illustrated when Senate Leader Marjory LeBreton stated, following the rejection of Bill C-311, “Ha, it legal”. | think the term ‘infantile’ fits LeBretons statement quite. well. The Senate exists to debate and consider legislation;-in.this case they did not even debate it. In terms of understanding the political process, the protest may have not been as accurate as a Political Science textbook, but it is clear that the Climate Change Accountability Act was handled in a fashion contrary to established parliamentary convention. The Senate has killed bills before, but only after going through them clause by clause. What happened is completely unusual. Morris makes a valid point that an elected Senate could have axed Bill C-311, but at least we would have had the opportunity to vote against Senators who put the interests of oil and coal companies ahead of our future and the well-being of future generations. As previously mentioned, Senators are appointed by the Crown on advice of the Prime Minister. Stephen Harper appointed Senators while only receiving 38% of the popular vote in the last general election. Their rule is only supported by a minority of Canadians. Now with the Tories controlling the majority in the Senate, Harper appears to have forgotten that he used to stridently protest when Liberal Senators used their majority to block “the democratic will of the elected House." (Globe and Mail, Tory Senators Kill Climate Bill Passed by House, November 17th, 2010) The UNBC students involved with the strip mob made many valid points about how the political process has failed them. Furthermore, many of these same youth have spent countless hours, over several years, calling on the government to take action on the vital matter of Climate Change including the passage of Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act. They tried to influence the process, but the halls of power were deaf to their pleas. In the case of the Senate’s rejection of Bill C-311, an affront to democracy has indeed occurred. The Conservative Party is supported by only a minority of the Canadian public. Yet, the Conservatives have a majority of votes in the Senate as a result of a hypocritical mass appointment. The Senate exists to conduct in-depth reviews of legislation as a matter of convention. The Senate generally should not offhandedly reject legislation. On an issue where most of the life on . earth is at stake, partisan games are fundamentally immoral. The youth are right; democracy is not working in Canada.