These are the 15 Leap Manifesto Demands:
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The leap must begin by respecting the inherent rights and title of the original caretakers of this land, starting by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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The latest research shows we could get 100% of our electricity from renewable resources within two decades; by 2050 we could have a 100% clean economy. We demand that this shift begin now.
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No new infrastructure projects that lock us into increased extraction decades into the future. The new iron law of energy development must be: if you wouldn’t want it in your backyard, then it doesn’t belong in anyone’s backyard.
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The time for energy democracy has come: wherever possible, communities should collectively control new clean energy systems. Indigenous Peoples and others on the frontlines of polluting industrial activity should be first to receive public support for their own clean energy projects.
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We want a universal program to build and retrofit energy efficient housing, ensuring that the lowest income communities will benefit first.
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We want high-speed rail powered by just renewables and affordable public transit to unite every community in this country – in place of more cars, pipelines and exploding trains that endanger and divide us.
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We want training and resources for workers in carbon-intensive jobs, ensuring they are fully able to participate in the clean energy economy.
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We need to invest in our decaying public infrastructure so that it can withstand increasingly frequent extreme weather events.
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We must develop a more localized and ecologically-based agricultural system to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, absorb shocks in the global supply – and produce healthier and more affordable food for everyone.
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We call for an end to all trade deals that interfere with our attempts to rebuild local economies, regulate corporations and stop damaging extractive projects.
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We demand immigration status and full protection for all workers. Canadians can begin to rebalance the scales of climate justice by welcoming refugees and migrants seeking safety and a better life.
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We must expand those sectors that are already low-carbon: caregiving, teaching, social work, the arts and public-interest media. A national childcare program is long past due.
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Since so much of the labour of caretaking – whether of people or the planet – is currently unpaid and often performed by women, we call for a vigorous debate about the introduction of a universal basic annual income.
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We declare that “austerity” is a fossilized form of thinking that has become a threat to life on earth. The money we need to pay for this great transformation is available — we just need the right policies to release it. An end to fossil fuel subsidies. Financial transaction taxes. Increased resource royalties. Higher income taxes on corporations and wealthy people. A progressive carbon tax. Cuts to military spending.
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We must work swiftly towards a system in which every vote counts and corporate money is removed from political campaigns.
The idea that going green is going to cost us jobs is purely a myth. Alberta’s lost jobs are directly attributable to the fact the fossil fuel companies bailed when they failed to get the profit they wanted. There’s plenty of evidence the reverse is true. There is good information available on the Leap site, including downloadable info, a paper sign up sheet so people can get added to the petition &tc.. Best of all, there is an online list of signatories, so we know which of our family and friends are missing 😀
And the Fossil Fuel companies want pipelines, and now they are driving the political process with fear. That’s why, in spite of everything we know, there is talk the Liberals want to fast track the Energy East Pipeline! We must make sure the Paris Accord isn’t just window dressing and now they can get back to business as usual. That’s why it is important.
Please sign, share, and talk to your family and friends about this.
