Letter to my home MP

Dear Mr Clement,
As a constituent of the Muskoka – Perry Sound riding, my emails are no stranger to your inbox, nor vice versa. During the parliamentary dispute last fall, email traffic between myself, my father (Doug Winter, of South River) and your office was certainly heated, though I would think also informed and honest. While I make no secret of the fact that I disagree, often vehemently, with the policies and practices of the Conservative government, I would like to offer belated thanks for your up-front attitude in answering my questions.
I hope you will be so straight forward in your answer to another, far more important issue. This issue is not partisan, for it takes not sides but that of greed. This issue is of grave concern to our resource rich environment, as well as the future of Canada the mosaic as we know it. This issue is the Alberta Tar Sands, the largest industrial project on the planet, and the most disgusting stain on our country’s honour. This project is directly responsible for producing more greenhouse gasses than all of Austria. It is a quagmire of toxic lakes and steam-baked earth larger than England. The continued support by your government of this, one of the world’s most heinous climate crimes must stop, and it must stop now.
As a full time cross country ski athlete and aspiring Vancouver Olympian, I see the damage of climate change every winter. People are holding their breath, hoping that Whistler gets enough snow to run all the events. Race sites across Europe are pushed higher and higher into the mountains in pursuit of snow, if not cancelled outright. I can attest to the hotter, dryer summers; it's now nearly impossible to train during July and August unless it's early in the morning or late at night. Searing heat waves kill in summer, massive storms and deep freezes kill in winter. The fact that our climate is in distress can no longer be contested. All that can is what we are going to do about it.
Canada used to be a world leader. We had a reputation as a peacekeeping, socially forward and environmentally conscious nation. Our culture of inclusiveness and understanding was the face we presented to the world. We prided ourselves on these things, and yet we have let them slip away. The Tar Sands are the embodiment of the values we seem to have reversed. First Nations treaty agreements are constantly thrown aside as meaningless to make room for more open pits. Oil companies continue to dictate to us what demand should be, toying with gas prices like a spiteful kid with a yoyo. This is only driving us closer and closer to violent conflict over a resource that should by now be obsolete. The obvious dangers of run away climate change are hastened with every three-story shovel scoop of oil-blackened earth. This is the face we now present to the world; that of a country bent to the will of an outdated industry, a country that treats its most historic citizens as refugees, and a country that values a quick buck over a sustainable future.
The upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen offers a chance to reverse this trend, to bring back some of the respect that Canada has lost in recent decades. You can start by publicly taking the pledge to change at http://www.kyotoplus.ca/en/pledge.html. I urge you and the Conservative government, in the strongest possible terms, to find the mettle necessary to stop acquiescing to Big Oil. Make the stand that Canadians want you to make, to stand for what we used to believe in. Show yourselves to be true climate leaders, and Climate Leaders Don’t Buy Tar Sands.
Yours truly, Jesse Winter