On August 20th, 350 Canada announced our first set of endorsements for the 2021 election. These are our “defending champions,” the incumbent candidates who, over the course of the last parliamentary session, did the most to champion the kind of climate action we need to see. We’ll be releasing more endorsements in the future, focusing on ridings where a climate champion has the chance of unseating a climate delayer or a climate denier, but in the meantime, here’s how we chose our first round.
First, we narrowed down only to those candidates who were elected as MP’s in 2019 and would be running again in 2021. Second, we looked at their records and focused in on three criteria:
- Bold leaders with a track record and experience that proves they will push the envelope and fight for the kind of climate emergency action we need.
- Champions who will take risks, organize fellow Members of Parliament, and work across party lines to implement legislation to stop fossil fuel expansion and legislate a just transition for all that puts us on a path to a made-in-Canada Green New Deal.
- People-powered politicians who listen and respond to the demands of movements and climate organizers to advance the kind of action we need.
Using these criteria, we adopted a “show us, don’t tell us” approach to deciding who to endorse, choosing to only name climate champions who truly stepped up and led. Simply talking about the climate crisis wasn’t enough. We looked for real, concrete actions to try and legislate on the climate crisis, hold the government accountable for their inaction and work outside of the House of Commons to build pressure for emergency level climate action.
This is just our first “defending champions” round of endorsements. Next, we’ll be digging into those champions who have a real shot of unseating delayers and deniers. If you know a candidate who deserves our endorsement, you can nominate them here.
Defending Champions are incumbent candidates who, over the course of the last parliamentary session, did the most to champion the kind of climate action we need to see.
350 Canada’s Defending Champions are:
- Elizabeth May (Saanich–Gulf Islands)
- Laurel Collins (Victoria)
- Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Center)
- Matthew Green (Hamilton-Centre)
- Paul Manly (Nanaimo-Ladysmith)
- Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby)