THE MESSAGE:

My problem is authors, musicians, actors, celebrities and pseudo-scientists who spread fear or misleading information to the gullible people in Canada.

The Leap Manifesto

The authors are pictured below

Naomi Klein

Leonard Cohen

David Suzuki

Ellen Page

Donald Sutherland

The writing of The Leap Manifesto was initiated in the spring of 2015 at a two-day meeting in Toronto attended by representatives from Canada’s Indigenous rights, social and food justice, environmental, faith-based and labour movements.

I cannot accept the generalizations and incomplete thought processes behind this so-called Manifesto! It surely is a Leap! One that would be fraught with danger, disappointment and wasted effort!

We could live in a country powered entirely by renewable energy, woven together by accessible public transit, in which the opportunities of this transition are designed to eliminate racial and gender inequality.

The operative word is 'could'. Obama's mantra: "Yes we can!" comes to mind. Take a gander at the missteps, the dissatisfaction and disharmony that his legacy will leave behind.

Caring for one another and caring for the planet could be the economy’s fastest growing sectors. Many more people could have higher-wage jobs with fewer work hours, leaving us ample time to enjoy our loved ones and flourish in our communities.

The sad reality of our existence is that there are more selfish people on our planet, with their own distinct values and beliefs, than truly compassionate, open minded ones. Robots will take over many of the jobs that humans have today. Will this not provide us with ample time for loved ones. Statistics show that marriage is a declining option. Perhaps there will be fewer loved ones to care about.

The time for this great transition is short. Climate scientists have told us this is the decade to take decisive action to prevent catastrophic global warming. That means small steps will no longer suffice.

Climate science is full of fudged data and incorrect theories. Gullible followers rail against fossil fuels yet ignore the harmful methane gasses produced by pig farms. and the bull sh** poduced by Suzuki's contributions.

This leap must begin by respecting the inherent rights and title of the original caretakers of this land. Indigenous communities have been at the forefront of protecting rivers, coasts, forests and lands from out-of-control industrial activity. We can bolster this role by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Right! The United Nations is dedicated to following Canada's lead. We hold sway over the Security Council and most of the political output of this body. Let's allow the Indigenous people of Canada to lead us in protecting our sovereignty and developing our resources. Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat for Prime Minister!

Moved by the treaties that form the legal basis of this country and bind us to share the land “for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow,” we want energy sources that will last for time immemorial and never run out or poison the land. Technological breakthroughs have brought this dream within reach. The latest research shows it is feasible to get 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable resources within two decades. We demand that this shift begin now.

Let's waste more taxpayer dollars on wind turbines and solar panels manufactured in other economies. Within two decades the radical muslims will be in charge and the native peoples can sign new treaties with them.

There is no longer an excuse for building new infrastructure projects that lock us into increased extraction decades into the future. That applies equally to oil and gas pipelines; fracking in New Brunswick, Quebec and British Columbia; increased tanker traffic off our coasts; and to Canadian-owned mining projects the world over.

Horrors.... Pipelines, mining, shipping and general fracking around. Maybe we COULD build thousands of giant fans in each hemisphere to circulate temperatures better than nature does. Let's ban cars and use bicycles instead. No trains or planes....Bike or stay home !

The time has come for energy democracy: We believe not just in changes to our energy sources, but that wherever possible communities should collectively control these new energy systems. We can create innovative ownership structures: democratically run, paying living wages and keeping much-needed revenue in communities. And indigenous peoples should be first to receive public support for their own clean energy projects. So should communities currently dealing with heavy health impacts of polluting industrial activity.

Oh what a great idea! More public sector workers to feather their beds. More reliance on and support for the indigenous people. More money collected by the people for their own use. Who builds and pays for inter community links. Democracy?? Sounds more like Communism to me.

Power generated this way will not merely light our homes but also redistribute wealth, deepen our democracy, strengthen our economy and start to heal the wounds that date back to this country’s founding.

This COULD result in the unequal distribution of wealth from one community to another. What if one community has more natural resources or more fish or works harder or is more frugal or has more efficient mothers and fathers or more children or smarter citizens or is more selfish than the others?

We declare that, “austerity” – which has systematically attacked low-carbon sectors such as education and health care, while starving public transit and forcing reckless energy privatizations – 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. Such as 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. All of these are based on a simple “polluter pays” principle and hold enormous promise.

Education? Health Care, Public Transit? These are referred to as 'low carbon sectors'? They are suffering because of private ownership? What a load of crap! Higher taxes on corporations will not redistribute wealth it will create unemployment and slow the economy. Take all the wealth from the 1 % of rich people and redistribute it. What will you have? More poor people! Cap and trade has already been exposed as detrimental to the economies of Europe. A U. Cal. Berkeley study shows that air pollution in China is killing 4,000 people each day! Leap on that!