Past Projects

2020 Nova Scotia Municipal Elections

In HRM, there was unanimous adoption of the Halifax Green Network Plan and climate change action plan. This, as well as the unprecedented community support for climate, nature, and sustainability that was witnessed through the climate marches, support for Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Regional Park, and the success of the Shaw Wilderness Park, have shown that now is the time to be ambitious and committed to building our community sustainably. 

To help our community engage candidates, we've put together toolkits for voters no matter where they live in the province. 

Municipal Election Toolkits 

HRM Election Toolkit 

Our 2020 Election Toolkit featured significant environmental issues, sample emails and questions, and key information for voters in the region. Click here to view the Toolkit. 

Election Toolkit (Outside of HRM)  

Our 2020 Toolkit was designed to provide a starting point to raise awareness for environmental issues in your community and assist your future elected representatives to take environmental action outside of HRM. Click here to view the Toolkit.  

Survey of Candidates for HRM Election

In the last municipal election, we sent a survey to all HRM candidates. The survey provided an opportunity for candidates to pledge support for some of the major environmental and social issues affecting our region.

View candidate survey responses here. 

Read the list of questions (without responses) here. 

2021 Nova Scotia Provincial Election

As we face the intersecting crises of climate change, rising inequity and biodiversity loss, we don’t have time for leaders who are stuck in outdated ways of thinking about our environment and our economy. We need true leadership and political will to protect the communities and ecosystems we all love and rely on and ensure a future where everyone living in Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia can thrive.   

We need leaders that do more than make empty promises. We need an ambitious vision for our future and concrete steps for how to achieve it. In 2021, we demanded No More B.S.  

No more B.S.  

What did we mean by No More B.S.? Aside from the obvious, we simply meant No More Bad Stuff! No more Big Subsidies to corporations that threaten our environment and our climate. No more Bad Stewardship of the natural spaces we love. No more Burning Stuff like fossil fuels and biomass. No more Bad Salmon farming threatening our marine ecosystems. No more Backwards Systems that fail to take care of our communities.  

EAC’s Four Asks 

1. Bold Climate Plan  - We have a legislated target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 53 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Getting there means: 90 per cent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2030, targets and incentives must exist for electric vehicles and investments made in energy efficiency and building retrofits. Money spent on outdated industries that threaten our climate and the long-term stability of our economy like offshore oil and gas, large scale biomass, and natural gas must stop. 

2. Resilient Communities  - In an increasingly unstable climate, our communities need to be adaptive and resilient. This means investing in vibrant and accessible local food systems and active transportation, and integrating climate adaptation concerns in all decision-making across all government departments. It means that our coastal communities are protected from sea-level rise and that all municipalities are provided with adequate funding to implement their municipal climate action plans.   

3. Healthy Ecosystems - To ensure a livable and sustainable future, we need to do more to protect the ecosystems we all rely on. This means increasing protected areas, reforming our forestry practices, and banning harmful industries that threaten our province’s biodiversity like open-net pen aquaculture and large-scale biomass burning.  

4. No One Left Behind - We must ensure that all our communities are given the support they need to thrive, and that we all benefit from the transition to a green economy. This means creating thousands of good, green jobs and a just transition for workers, updating environmental decision-making processes to include a race-equity lens, and ensuring all provincial laws are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  

All Party Debate

Before the last provincial election in 2021, the EAC, Sierra Club Atlantic Canada Chapter and the Council of Canadians hosted a debate to hear the view of each pollical party on critical issues related to the climate and biodiversity crises. 

The debate was held at the Ummah Mosque and Community Centre in Halifax and live-streamed on YouTube. Opening remarks were delivered by Maggy Burns, EAC Executive Director. The moderator was Sheldon MacLeod, journalist and host with Saltwire.com. 

• Click here to download the Q&A summary document 

• Click here to download the full transcript document. 

Additional Resources

Party Platform Analysis

We've reviewed available environmental party platforms to provide an objective picture of where each party stands on critical environmental, biodiversity and climate issues.     

The targets and promises of each of the parties are taken from their platforms and/or websites, except where otherwise indicated. Click here to read the full Party Platform Analysis from the 2021 provincial election.