Dear Beaches-East York MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, 

Congratulations on your election victory and that of your party. The battle has been hard won, but with a historically low share of the popular vote. We therefore ask that you accept this mantle with authentic humility and regard for the many who did not vote for you - but who voted Liberal strategically, to avoid the threat of Conservative leadership, and for the many NDP, Green and Bloc Québecois voters for whom the climate and ecological crises emerged as a top concern. Canada is heating at twice the global rate, and yet we saw very little meaningful policy debate of this issue in the election.

We know you respect your constituents, and we recognize you pride yourself on your personal ethics, as a politician of conviction who does not fear going against the grain of his own party, including to stand up for environmental issues. We expect you to be even bolder during this second term. The stakes are higher and our children are running out of time.

We urge you to consider the results of your riding and of the wider Canadian electoral results with unflinching honesty and to apply your intellect and political skills fully to the imperative of the climate and ecological crises. At this pivotal moment in our earth's record and human history, when you are privileged to speak on our behalf, we urge you not to squander this gift on the peddling of mediocre policy that fails to understand one simple premise: that physics - not politics - dictates the timeline for urgent and ambitious action.

The IPCC tells us that for a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5C global temperature rise (the best odds) the world had 420 GT to emit back on January 2018. Today this budget is down to less than 350 GT. With today's rising global emissions levels, the 1.5C budget will be blown within 8 years (Mercator Institute), or as soon as within 5 years (Carbon Brief). These estimates do account for tipping points, feedback loops, and hidden emissions. Global average temperatures have already increased 1C, and the scientific community tells us that even if we stopped emitting carbon today, the lag in temperature increase would mean that the effect of heating would not be fully felt for decades. We may have already passed the 1.5C threshold. 

Understanding the science and need to act based on the precautionary principle, and given the unprecedented and growing numbers of Canadians calling for bold and urgent action on the climate, it demonstrates astounding entitlement, willful blindness and shortsightedness by the Liberal Party to forge ahead with an agenda of pipeline infrastructure expansion.  

Furthermore, it constitutes climate injustice and an abdication of responsibility of the highest order to attempt to meet these targets by displacing our carbon debt onto others. Canadians have the highest average greenhouse gas footprint of the G20, yet we rely upon other countries and future generations to make the necessary (yet potentially impossible) sacrifices involved to halt and draw down emissions while we increase oil production. This is unacceptable. Those who have contributed the least - indigenous people, racialized communities, communities in the global south and children everywhere - will suffer the most. We are deeply concerned that the Liberals are pushing through the TMX pipeline despite the court ruling of inadequate consultation with Indigenous communities and that reconciliation continues to erode as the Liberal Party spends millions fighting First Nation children in court. 

You have argued that blocking pipelines is a costly way of reducing emissions, but we say that relying on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere, such as by purchasing offsets and funding projects overseas that reduce emissions abroad is a form of climate injustice and denialism that humanity can no longer afford to entertain. 

The Liberal Party's current climate plan has been assessed to fall well short of the 2030 GHG reduction targets. We recognize that you have previously introduced a bill for carbon neutrality by 2050 (the same target the Green Party has argued for). However, to do so without the early milestones and aggressive actions needed to get there, and to attempt to do so without committing to halt the development of fossil fuel infrastructure, increases the risk of a global temperature rise above 1.5C to an unacceptably high level. It is no longer a matter of whether or not to aim for carbon neutrality - it is entirely a matter of how fast we get there and 2050 is not fast enough. Scientists warn us that failure to limit warming to 1.5C will unleash potentially irreversible consequences including ecosystem collapse, food insecurity, water insecurity, increased sea level rise, more frequent extreme weather events, all contributing to the global refugee crisis. Humanity is on course for 4 degrees of heating at a time when our house is metaphorically, and literally “on fire” we cannot be arguing about who’s turn it is to put the fire out. 

We are not interested in arguments that shirk our responsibility, nor in magical GHG accounting that ultimately does nothing to drawdown global CO2 levels. We need Leadership with the spine to stand up to powerful corporate interests, the intelligence to win over our alienated Western electorate, the diplomacy to convene meaningful climate and ecological action on the global stage, and the vision to build consensus for a just transition at home. 

HOW we meet this challenge is paramount, and the choice we make as Canadians will determine who we really are as a nation. We urge you to find the political courage to follow science. We urge you to choose the path of climate justice.  We urge you to throw your enthusiastic support behind the call for a Green New Deal - a holistic strategy that enshrines Indigenous sovereignty at the heart of this transformation while reversing biodiversity loss and ushering in a bold and just transition for all Canadians towards the economy of the future. We urge you to support the aggressive targets proposed by Extinction Rebellion - to meet net zero by 2025. We urge you to support the Green Party call for a "war cabinet" to collaborate across party lines and to mobilize action and resources with due urgency. We urge you to support the reopening of calls for electoral reform so that the voice of Canadians can be accurately reflected from now on. 

Finally, we urge you to hold regular town hall discussions with your constituents in order to keep us informed and to enable us to support you in this effort.

With hope for the future, 

Your Constituents