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National Not-the-Nuclear-Lobby Returns to Parliament Hill, Ottawa

OTTAWA — Citizens groups from six provinces are returning to Ottawa to press members of Parliament to increase scrutiny and security of nuclear operations. They will be back on Parliament Hill from April 29 to May 2, following a successful lobby in 2023. This year there are two public events, three invitational community events and visits with as many MPs as can be convinced to open their doors. Not-the-Nuclear Lobby is supported by members from 17 citizen and public interest groups across Canada. Members – teachers, professors, doctors, engineers and educated citizens – will meet on Parliament Hill to share important details that MPs, lobbied as they are by the nuclear industry, don’t usually hear about nuclear energy and the radioactivity the nuclear industry generates. The lobby’s key themes this year are:

Developing new nuclear reactors will delay climate action; nuclear is not a climate solution Parliamentarians should oversee nuclear waste management and nuclear site decommissioning Parliament should ban reprocessing nuclear fuel waste

“New nuclear reactor deployment is too slow – the climate emergency won’t wait,” says Angela Bischoff, director of Ontario Clean Air Alliance. “Nuclear is a much more expensive energy option than its competitors. Proven alternatives to nuclear energy already exist and can be built now: energy efficiency, and wind, solar and energy storage.” “Canada is the only country where elected representatives do not oversee nuclear waste management,” says Dr. Susan O’Donnell, spokesperson for Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick. “Uranium mine tailings, nuclear generating stations and nuclear waste sites, and new nuclear reactors will leave a toxic legacy for millennia. Decisions about nuclear waste must be made by parliamentarians accountable to the electorate.

The public events include a stunning award-winning film recently released, Radioactive: The Women of Three Mile Island on Monday, April 29 at 6:30 PM at the Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank St., Ottawa. This event is hosted by Council of Canadians Ottawa and Sierra Club Canada and sponsored by Patagonia. The federal and provincial governments have provided more than a billion dollars of publicly funded subsidies to new nuclear development. In response, a public forum, Canada’s Nuclear Future – Renaissance or Relic, will be held on Wednesday, May 1 at 7 PM at St. James United Church, 650 Lyon St. S. in the Glebe, Ottawa and online, featuring experts from across Canada. This event is hosted by Seniors for Climate Action Now (SCAN! Ottawa).

April 27, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized