REGINA, Sask. – A caravan of EV-driving seniors is on its way to Ottawa to push the federal government to enact greener policies. The caravan, which started in Victoria, B.C., made a pit stop in Regina, Sask. over the weekend. Laura Stewart is one of the seniors who joined the journey from Saskatchewan. “People understand that changing their light bulbs or setting back their thermostat is nowhere near enough,” she said. “We need collective action.” The group Seniors’ Climate Witness is spearheading the demonstration. Co-founder Michael Polanyi helped organize the caravan – an idea that first came about during the peak of Canada’s wildfire season. Around the same time, Ottawa announced it would refer Alberta’s West Coast Oil Pipeline proposal to the Major Projects Office, Polanyi said. “It does not make sense when people’s homes are burning to put more money into fossil fuels,” he told CTV News during the caravan’s pit stop. “We should be putting money into electric vehicles, heat pumps, critical minerals, solar or wind.” The caravan is scheduled to arrive in Ottawa on Friday, when it will join forces with another caravan from Atlantic Canada. The trip coincides with the fall sitting of the House of Commons. The group plans to lobby on Parliament Hill and hopes to meet with politicians. Polanyi said the seniors are doing this to protect future generations from the impacts of climate change. “I felt like of all the ways I can demonstrate love for my grandchild one of them is to really take a strong message to Ottawa,” Polanyi said. The caravan comes as a recent Canadian Climate Institute (CCI) report suggests the country is more than 20 years behind its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “It is just a mathematical fact that our country is not currently anywhere near on the path to net zero by 2050,” CCI president Rick Smith said. “That needs to change.” Canada has committed to reducing its emissions 40 to 45 per cent by 2030 with the ultimate goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The CCI report found the targets are “unreachable without significant policy improvements.” “The real cost of climate change these days, is the damage being inflicted on Canadian communities every year by extreme weather,” Smith said. “That is just going to continue getting worse.” Ottawa is still committed to fighting climate change and reaching net zero by 2050 through a “pragmatic and durable approach,” according to the press secretary for the Office of the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Canada. “This includes building major clean energy projects across the country, driving mass electrification, and making significant investment in the low-carbon economy,” press secretary Keean Nembhard said in a statement to CTV News. “Getting to net-zero also requires building clean, affordable, and reliable power across the country, and we are moving rapidly to build the clean energy infrastructure that makes that possible.” Earlier this year, the federal government repealed Canada’s electric vehicle sales mandate and introduced new targets. Ottawa now wants 75 per cent of new vehicle sales to be electric by 2035 and 90 per cent by 2040. The repealed mandate sought to have 100 per cent zero-emissions for new car sales by 2035. This year the federal government also announced a national strategy to build more charging infrastructure to help get more people in EVs. “I think the challenge for the federal government is to now put some details to these proposals so that they can start to have an impact,” Smith said.
