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These cuts are NOT 'pragmatic,' 'practical,' nor 'balanced.' They do NOT help defend Canada - they make it HARDER to defend Canada and they put Canadians at risk. The way the Federal Government talks about pharmacare now is the way they talked about the emissions cap just before it was scrapped: vaguely. Even more environmental safety measures are likely being removed soon - at the request of the wealthy (often U.S.-owned) oil and gas corporations who are currently profiteering off of Canadians at the gas pump. Supporting wealthy oil and gas corporations with taxpayer dollars, and cutting regulations and services, is NOT what Canadians want: A majority of Canadians (58%) say transitioning away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy is more important than ever - only 11% say it’s less important. 59% of Canadians believe Canada would be safer if it produced more renewable energy, given U.S. aggression toward other countries. A majority of Canadians also say reliance on oil and gas increases the risk of international conflict (67%). “70% of the public would feel pride if Canada were to become a renewable energy superpower, versus only 30 percent feeling that way about becoming an oil and gas superpower…. These results include a majority of Albertans (56%) and 79% of people living in Newfoundland and Labrador.” Find links to even more Abacus Data, Opinium, Ekos, and Leger polling here: www.sierraclub.ca/lng-national-interest-canada/ Climate action is the canary in the coal mine for measuring what a government says they will do versus what they do. Climate action (or the lack of it) signals IF governments will stand up to U.S. corporate influence, tax big oil and gas and tax profiteers for the public good, and PRIORITIZE Canadians in a crisis. If governments won't stand up to big oil & gas - given extreme climate impacts and cheaper renewable alternatives - they are unlikely to take meaningful action on other files like affordability too. In fact they're liable to take other actions that makes things worse. Methane rules were recently undermined and if big oil get their way industrial carbon pricing implementation timelines will be delayed to such an extent as to make the policy effectively meaningless. But it doesn't stop at climate inaction. As Althia Raj writes: 'Without a line item in budget 2025 or [the] eco­nomic update... The [pharmacare] pro­gram is end­ing... The fed­eral gov­ern­ment is also slash­ing bil­lions from health care.' Indeed, the Federal Government is looking at privatizing public assets - like airports - to feed the money into a FAKE 'sovereign wealth fund.' The fund would likely just funnel taxpayer money into dead-end oil and gas projects so as to transfer the risk off of corporations and onto the public (it's the OPPOSITE of Norway's fund): https://www.sierraclub.ca/canada-strong-fund-sovereign-wealth/ All this to the benefit - again - of often U.S. oil and gas interests. The Canadian Government says they're following the privatization example of the UK in 'recycling assets'. Well, as The Guardian reports: "[The] UK public has paid £200bn to shareholders of key industries since privatisation... The transfer of tens of billions of pounds to the owners of the privatised water, rail, bus, energy and mail services comes as families face soaring bills, polluted rivers and seas, and expensive and unreliable trains and buses." This is not 'taking the world as it is' - it's living in a fantasy land constructed by corporate lobbyists. The Federal Government has defended plans to expand shipments of Canadian gas to climate-wrecking U.S. billionaire data centres by saying it put cards in Canada's hands. Even if that were true - and it is NOT true - you'd need to be willing to play those cards from them to be in our hands: https://www.sierraclub.ca/canadian-gas-ai-data-centres-keystone-xl-fortress-north-america/ But the Prime Minister has confirmed that 'Canada won’t ‘leverage’ energy, critical minerals [even in current] trade talks with the U.S.' If our existing 'cards' are not to be leveraged, more will certainly not be of use. MORE SOURCES HERE: https://secure.sierraclub.ca/civicrm/mailing/view?id=3932&reset=1