FINAL PUSH BEFORE THE FEDERAL ELECTION: KEEP BC'S COAST OIL-FREE!

PLEASE sign the online petition at: http://www.bcoilslick.org/

Maintain the Moratorium - Please WRITE, RALLY, and COLLECT SIGNATURES!

Let's keep destructive, dirty fossil fuel exploration, drilling, and transportation permanently away
from BC's wild coast! It is the one year anniversary of the federal public input process (the Priddle Process) results, where 75% of the citizens opposed lifting the moratorium on oil and gas development off BC's Pacific Coast.

Considering that a federal election is coming up, the WCWC believes that the government should be obligated to adhere to the results of its own public input process and publicly declare that they'll maintain the moratorium - or better yet, simply ban offshore oil and gas development
in Canada's Pacific once and for all.

You can do 3 things:

1) GET SIGNATURES ON THE OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS PETITION!

We need 10 000 signatures by Dec.13 in time for our rally in Vancouver (see below). Go to www.bcoilslick.org to sign the online petition, and most importantly, to download hardcopies to circulate. You can drop them off or mail them to our office (see address at bottom) no later than
Dec.12. So far, we have 7500 signatures (1400 online, 6100 hardcopies). Petitions can be circulated at your workplace, in your classes, or taken door to door.

2) RALLY on Tuesday, Dec.13 with the WCWC outside federal Minister of Industry David Emerson's office (2148 Kingsway) in Vancouver at 12:30 pm

We'll be presenting the federal Minister of Industry David Emerson with a Christmas gift: 10 000 signatures of people who want the government to ban offshore oil and gas development in BC. The petitions will be placed in a giant gift-wrapped box under our little Christmas tree, where there will be a giant stocking which will be stuffed with our "Christmas wish" (Maintain the Moratorium). We'll also have several speakers, including Ken Wu of the WCWC. Will Minister Emerson be like Santa or like Scrooge (or the Grinch)??

If possible please contact Jen MacKay, WCWC campaign intern at j...@wildernesscommitteevictoria.org to confirm that you can come so we can get a sense of the numbers coming.

3) WRITE to the FEDERAL LIBERAL GOVERNMENT.

Now is the time we really need to flood the government with letters. Be sure to include your home mailing address so they know you're real.

Let them know whether or not you believe they should:

· Ban offshore oil and gas development off BC's Pacific Coast. Offshore oil and gas developments would risk major oil spills that would hit the ecologically sensitive shores of the Queen Charlotte Islands, Great Bear Rainforest, and Vancouver Island; harm and kill fish, invertebrates and whales through seismic testing (oil exploration using sonic underwater blasts); contaminate the ocean with daily chronic pollution (toxic drilling fluids and waste waters, chronic oil leakages, and small spills); and contravene Canada's Kyoto commitment through major greenhouse gas emissions.
· Adhere to the results of their own public input process where 75% of 3700 respondents opposed lifting the moratorium.
· Instead, foster clean and renewable wind power and tidal power projects off BC's coast.

WRITE TO:

David Emerson, Minister of Industry:
Emer...@parl.gc.ca

Prime Minister Paul Martin:
p...@pm.gc.ca

Stephen Owen, Minister of Western Economic Diversification:
Owe...@parl.gc.ca

Stephane Dion, Minister of Environment:
Dio...@parl.gc.ca

John McCallum, Minister of Natural Resources:
McCa...@parl.gc.ca

As importantly, write to your local federal Member of Parliament (MP)
who you can find at: http://www.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html

NOTE!: If you have David Anderson as your MP or a federal NDP MP, you may want to THANK them for already being champions of maintaining the moratorium.

See recent media articles and information at: www.bcoilslick.org
www.wildernesscommitteevictoria.org
www.oilfreecoast.org