{"id":460,"date":"2009-12-15T14:41:45","date_gmt":"2009-12-15T19:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rightoncanada.ca\/?p=460"},"modified":"2010-01-13T14:48:20","modified_gmt":"2010-01-13T19:48:20","slug":"government-must-stop-funding-climate-change-denial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/?p=460","title":{"rendered":"Government Must Stop Funding Climate Change Denial"},"content":{"rendered":"
La version fran\u00e7ais suivre<\/em><\/h5>\n

Scientists criticize \u201cmisleading and untruthful\u201d information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ottawa \u2013 While the world\u2019s attention is focused on Copenhagen for the Climate Change Conference, back at home Sierra Club Canada and the Rideau Institute are calling on Prime Minister Harper to stop funding an organization that promotes denial of climate change. The Chrysotile Institute is a registered lobby group for the asbestos industry, and has taken a page from the tobacco and oil industry playbook by spreading misinformation about the notorious health effects of their product. In addition to the clearly toxic nature of their product, they are now promoting the work of prominent climate change denier Christopher Booker on their web site. To make matters worse, the federal government has given the Chrysotile $20 million in funding.<\/p>\n

Mr. Booker calls global warming and the health impacts of chrysotile asbestos (which represents 100% of the global asbestos trade) hoaxes. Booker was rated one of the world\u2019s top ten climate change deniers by well-known journalist George Monbiot.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly a few days ago Minister Prentice told the Commons Environment Committee he believes in science-based policy. Yet, his government is paying a lobby group to spread discredited misinformation and promote climate change denial,\u201d said John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada.<\/p>\n

Despite a direct appeal from Canadian scientists to Prime Minister Harper in January this year to stop funding what they termed the Chrysotile Institute\u2019s \u201cmisleading and untruthful\u201d information, the government continues to fund the Institute.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, according to documents the Institute filed this year with the Lobbyists Registry, Natural Resources Canada appoints a representative to the Institute\u2019s board of directors. The government denies this but neither the government nor the Institute have answered requests for the names of the Institute\u2019s board members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on you to immediately cut funding to, support of and participation in the Chrysotile Institute,\u201d said Kathleen Ruff, senior human rights advisor to the Rideau Institute. \u201cIt is unacceptable to Canadians and people around the world that your government would in any way fund and support climate change denial, helping to delay action on this urgent global issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Le gouvernement doit cesser de commanditer ceux qui d\u00e9nient le changement du climat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Les scientifiques critiquent \u00ab l’information fallacieuse et fausse \u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ottawa:\u00a0 Alors\u00a0 que l’attention mondiale se porte sur la Conf\u00e9rence sur le changement du climat \u00e0 Copenhague, chez nous, Sierra Club Canada et l’Institut Rideau font appel au premier ministre Harper pour que cesse le financement d\u2019une organisation qui soutient le d\u00e9nigrement du changement du climat.\u00a0 L’Institut du chrysotile est un lobbyiste enregistr\u00e9 qui d\u00e9fend l’industrie de l’amiante et applique les m\u00e9thodes des industries du tabac et du p\u00e9trole pour r\u00e9pandre des informations fausses pour mieux cacher les effets d\u00e9l\u00e9t\u00e8res de ses produits pour la sant\u00e9.\u00a0 En plus de la nature clairement toxique de ses produits, l’Institut endosse sur son site Web les id\u00e9es de Christopher Booker, notoire pour son d\u00e9nigrement du changement du climat.\u00a0 Ceci de la part d\u2019un organisme auquel le gouvernement f\u00e9d\u00e9ral a donn\u00e9 plus de $20 millions de support financier.<\/p>\n

M. Booker maintient que le changement du climat et les effets de l’amiante sur la sant\u00e9 sont des\u00a0 mystifications.\u00a0 George Monbiot, le journaliste bien connu, tient M. Booker pour l’un des dix d\u00e9nigreurs du changement de climat les plus influents.<\/p>\n

\u00ab Il y a seulement quelques jours, le ministre de l’environnement Prentice, communiquait au Comit\u00e9 de l’environnement sa confiance dans les politiques qui sont fond\u00e9es sur la science.\u00a0 En contradiction avec cette d\u00e9claration minist\u00e9rielle, le gouvernement entretient un groupe de lobbyistes colportant de l’information erron\u00e9e qui\u00a0 supporte le d\u00e9nigrement du changement du climat, \u00bb dit John Bennett, directeur ex\u00e9cutif, Sierra Club Canada.<\/p>\n

En d\u00e9pit de la demande directement adress\u00e9e par des experts canadiens au premier ministre Harper en janvier de cette ann\u00e9e, pour mettre fin \u00e0 l’aide financi\u00e8re soutenant l’Institut du chrysotile, en raison des informations qu’ils qualifient de trompeuses et mensong\u00e8res que cet organisme colporte, le gouvernement continue de financer cet Institut qui d\u00e9shonore notre pays.<\/p>\n

De plus, selon les documents que l’Institut a d\u00e9pos\u00e9s au Registre des lobbyistes, le minist\u00e8re des ressources naturelles du Canada, nommerait un repr\u00e9sentant au conseil d’administration de l’Institut.\u00a0 Le gouvernement le nie, mais ni le gouvernement ni l’Institut n’ont r\u00e9pondu aux requ\u00eates demandant la communication des noms des membres du conseil d\u2019administration de l’Institut.<\/p>\n

Nous vous demandons de mettre fin imm\u00e9diatement au financement et \u00e0 la complicit\u00e9 de l\u2019\u00e9tat dans les magouilles de l’Institut du chrysotile \u00bb dit Kathleen Ruff, conseill\u00e8re principale de l’Institut\u00a0 Rideau sur les droits humains.\u00a0 Il est inadmissible pour les Canadiens et le reste du monde que votre gouvernement finance\u00a0 et soutienne, de n’importe quelle fa\u00e7on, le d\u00e9nigrement du changement du climat, devenant complice ce faisant, des mesures retardant toute action sur ce probl\u00e8me global que le reste de la plan\u00e8te tient pour urgent.<\/p>\n

Letter to Stephen Harper, Prime Minister<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monday, December 14, 2009<\/p>\n

Prime Minister,<\/p>\n

We are writing to congratulate you on your decision to attend the Copenhagen Conference. We hope it symbolizes a realization that environmental science is a significant driver of government policy.<\/p>\n

We are sure you are aware of the growing tendency of industry to employ misinformation and distortion of science to avoid public scrutiny and regulation.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the Chrysotile Institute has embraced the same tactics as the tobacco and fossil fuel industries. It rejects the findings of the world\u2019s leading, most respected scientific bodies and instead is promoting the work of Christopher Booker who has no scientific credentials but claims to be authoritative enough to deny climate change and the health effects of asbestos.<\/p>\n

Further, the Chrysotile Institute excludes from its website and from its materials the overwhelming scientific consensus that all forms of asbestos are deadly and should be banned.<\/p>\n

Your party, in opposition, often criticized the power of special interest groups and the cozy relationship between government and lobby groups. You pledged to clean up this issue once in office.<\/p>\n

We endorse the request from scientists from Laval University in Quebec, the University of Ottawa, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta and Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who wrote you on January 23, 2009 asking that you stop funding \u201cthe misleading and untruthful information\u201d disseminated by the Chrysotile Institute.<\/p>\n

We call on you to immediately cut funding to, support of and participation in the Chrysotile Institute. It is unacceptable to Canadians and people around the world that your government is funding denial of asbestos harm and denial of climate change, thus helping to delay action on this urgent global issue.<\/p>\n

We would appreciate your immediate reply.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Kathleen Ruff, Director, Rideau Institute<\/p>\n

John Bennett, Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La version fran\u00e7ais suivre Scientists criticize \u201cmisleading and untruthful\u201d information Ottawa \u2013 While the world\u2019s attention is focused on Copenhagen for the Climate Change Conference, back at home Sierra Club Canada and the Rideau Institute are calling on Prime Minister Harper to stop funding an organization that promotes denial of climate change. The Chrysotile Institute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[326,21],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-asbestos","tag-chrysotile-institute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=460"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}