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The election is over. Now what?

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By David Suzuki

As increasing turmoil shook the world during our federal election, climate change all but disappeared from campaigns. That would be fine if the issue hadn’t been politicized such a degree. After all, you’d think all parties would favour resolving a crisis that threatens human wellbeing and survival.

Unfortunately, in a consumer-capitalist system, raking in the most money in the quickest and easiest way is the highest priority, no matter how destructive. Whether or not it filters down to working people or just enriches the already obscenely wealthy is irrelevant. If it looks good on paper, increases gross domestic product and maintains a few jobs, it’s all good.

And so, during the election, we saw calls from across the political spectrum for more pipelines, more oil and gas development — which will cause more pollution, climate-altering emissions and costly consequences.

Now that the election’s over, it’s no time to be complacent. Our democratic duty doesn’t end at the ballot box. We must create the society we want. And who doesn’t want cleaner air and water, healthier food, better jobs and economic opportunities and greater equity?

We elect governments to serve us and our interests. Too often, politicians don’t see it that way. Many serve their wealthy corporate donors and allies, at our expense. It’s up to us to make sure they get their priorities straight. Regardless of which candidate or party you voted for, we need to communicate with our members of Parliament and government officials, to let them know we want a clean environment and social justice. With so many politicians worldwide abandoning the important but inadequate progress we’ve made on tackling serious environmental crises, Canada must step up and lead.

This election was in large part about countering threats from our neighbours to the south — neighbours we once thought we could rely on but who have turned against us in efforts to weaken our economy and come after our resources. Let’s hope our new government is up to the challenge. Part of that will be showing there are better ways.

During the election campaign, the fossil fuel industry and its political supporters used the tensions between the U.S. and Canada to argue for ramping up the industry — to build more pipelines and oil and gas infrastructure. The ostensible justification is that doing so will make Canada more energy independent. It’s a bogus argument, given that pipelines and oil and gas infrastructure don’t get built overnight.

If we truly wanted to become energy independent, we would focus on the most cost-effective and efficient energy: renewable energy from wind, solar, geothermal and energy storage. We need a clean-powered, connected electricity grid that facilitates interprovincial transmission. That would give us independence not only from the U.S. but from the multinational oil companies that seek only to enrich their owners, executives and shareholders.

As we all experience increasing consequences of this greedy exploitation of gas, oil and coal — from extreme weather events to devastating wildfires, deadly heat domes to costly floods, droughts and water shortages — those who study the problem agree that we can’t afford further fossil fuel development. It’s suicidal!

Even though the current global consumer-capitalist economic regime is a relatively recent development, people are afraid to upset the status quo. And so we stumble toward oblivion, burning more fossil fuels, heating the planet to unsustainable levels, choking land, water and our own bodies with increasing amounts of plastic and wasting the valuable resources and services this small biosphere provides.

Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor continues to grow, with billionaires seemingly bent on reaping even more of Earth’s bounty, and seeking to protect themselves from the consequences by building sheltered compounds, maybe even on Mars.

The U.S. has shown that a single election can cause drastic change. We need to ensure that democracy is about more than just voting and elections. Now more than ever, it’s critical that we get involved. We thank all who ran for office and congratulate the winners — it’s an important commitment. The rest of us must stay informed, talk to friends, family and colleagues and hold politicians accountable by writing letters, making phone calls, signing petitions and taking to the streets.

Our election may be over, but our work is just beginning.

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington.

Learn more at davidsuzuki.org.