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Call your MP now to make a difference for endangered plants and animals Wildcanada.net Action Alert -- 058 (B) Thursday March 28, 2002 Members of Parliament are in their constituency offices for a two-week break over Easter. Debate on Bill C-5, the Species at Risk Act (SARA), will resume when they return to the House of Commons on April 8th, 2002. In the last two weeks, unrest has been growing among backbench Liberal Members of Parliament disgruntled by the lack of respect shown the Parliamentary Committee process by their own government. In addition, opposition parties have won a key motion on the floor of the House, ensuring several key Environment Committee amendments will remain in Bill C-5. Despite this, the Prime Minister is pushing ahead with plans to gut SARA, removing virtually all of the progress made by the all-party Environment Committee in their historic compromise. A phone call to your MP's constituency office while they are in the riding this week, or during the first week of April, will make an enormous difference for the protection of Canada's endangered plants and animals. Background The Species at Risk Act (SARA) was reintroduced to the House of Commons on February 18. The Bill, as amended by the Environment Committee, had broad stakeholder support. The Committee's version of the bill, while not as strong as many Canadians would have liked, was a significant improvement on the original bill, and reached an historic compromise on the issues of habitat protection and science-based listing. The government has introduced counter amendments at Report Stage, where the Bill is brought back to the House after the Committee has made its review. The amendments would gut the key improvements made by the Environment Committee. If passed with the government's amendments, the Liberals' Bill will be weak and ineffective at protecting endangered species like the grizzly bear, monarch butterfly, killer whale, and more than 380 others. Take Action Even a single phone call from a constituent over the next week will make an enormous difference, and could convince your MP to break ranks and vote against weakening SARA. It is up to you to make this call. As a growing network, Wildcanada.net has a strong national voice, but it is up to you to exercise your voice at the local, grassroots level. Information on your Member of Parliament's constituency phone number is at the bottom of this email. Consider asking that your MP not support the government's Species at Risk Act unless: * it makes habitat protection in areas of federal jurisdiction (migratory birds, waterways) mandatory; and * scientists, not politicians be allowed to determine the list of endangered species. For more information on the Species at Risk Act, visit http://www.wildcanada.net. If you phone your Member of Parliament, please email wild@wildcanada.net and let us know your riding. Please forward his message to your friends. ------------------------------------------------- To get information on your or other Canadian MPs Go to http://www.canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html Once onto the site, double click on the line you want. i.e., if you know the name of your MP or if you do not . When the MP names come up, double click on the name you want. A picture of the MP and all contact info will come up on the individual MP, i.e. e mail , fax, regular mail addresses" "Ignore the environment- it will go away." -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- SUST-MAR TIP: messages to sust-mar must be plain text format (no HTML) -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
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