A B.C. man is about to take on an epic bike ride across Ontario in a bid to battle climate change in Canada.
Clearwater resident Keith McNeill says he was inspired to join the fight when the child of a family member cried himself to sleep after watching a climate-change documentary.
Now, the 65 year old is planning on pedalling more than 450 kilometres from Toronto to Ottawa to promote an online petition addressed to federal leaders include Prime Minister Stephen Harper, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.
The petition asks leaders to hold a referendum on a national carbon fee-and-dividend program, and has obtained than 28,000 signatures so far.
“Climate scientists say a carbon fee-and-dividend system would be the best first step to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic climate change,” McNeill says. “The use of fossil fuels will continue to rise as long as they remain artificially cheap. I believe this issue deserves a national debate.”
The bike route traces the shores of Lake Ontario to Kingston before heading inland to the Cataraqui Trail, which will take McNeill all the way to Parliament Hill.
At the end point, the Citizens Climate Lobby will hold a rally at parliament to promote McNeill’s proposed fee-and-dividend program.
The proposed program would see a fee implemented on fossil fuel production, similar to carbon tax.
But instead of that money going to general government revenues – it would be given back to Canadians.
“British Columbia has a carbon tax that presently stands at $30 per tonne of carbon dioxide,” McNeill says on his online petition. “A [national] carbon fee-and-dividend system set at the same level as British Columbia’s tax of $30 per tonne would generate about $20 billion per year.”
He goes on to say that would be enough to give every single adult in the country a payout of about $1,000 per year.
McNeill will kick off his “Carbon Cycle” ride in Toronto on May 23 with an estimate arrival date in Ottawa June 2.
