A summit recently held in Edmonton brought elected officials from across Canada together to call for change in federal climate policy.
The closed-door climate summit was hosted on June 4 by Elbows Up For Climate, a coalition of about 300 mayors, councillors and local elected leaders. A June 8 press release from the group said they delivered an urgent message to Prime Minister Mark Carney, which was, “We need nation building, not nation-burning projects.”
On top of the summit itself, a joint statement was released by the organization which, as of June 8, had 43 signatures “and counting,” according to Serena Mah, a media contact for the group.
The joint statement, according to the press release, is meant “to acknowledge the growing costs and crisis of climate impacts across Canada, and to put climate back on the national agenda with demands for national projects that create jobs and cut pollution.” The press release and joint statement can be found at elbowsupforclimate.ca.
Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell was one of the attendees at the summit and is quoted in the press release addressing Carney.
“Mark Carney has told his critics that he wants to hear what they’re for, not what we’re against, so here it is: municipal leaders want nation-building, not nation-burning projects,” Blackwell said.
In a Facebook post, he said he was honoured to be one of six speakers at the conference.
Blackwell shared the stage with Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland, Yellowknife Mayor Ben Hendriksen, Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack, former Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, and Gatineau Coun. Catherine Craig-St-Louis. Blackwell said the experience was “truly inspirational.”
The press release said the leaders called for immediate federal action to reverse course on fossil fuel expansion, and highlighted five demands for federal policies which they say could create millions of Canadian jobs and help protect the country from economic shocks.
Those five points are as follows:
- A national East-West-North clean electric grid, powered by renewable energy not fossil gas, to make Canada a clean energy super power.
- At least two million non-market homes that are zero polluting, efficient and built to the highest standards, with Canadian steel, aluminum and lumber.
- Home retrofits and mass heat pump and solar installations across the country to cut energy bills and pollution, and spur economic activity in every community.
- A clean transportation system with a national high-speed rail network, extended with Canadian-made electric buses and reversing federal cuts to local transit.
- A national resilience, response and recovery strategy to rebuild from the disasters to come, funded by a new tax on excess oil and gas profits from the Iran war.
An interactive climate impacts map released by Elbows Up For Climate stated that in 2025, it documented 25 per cent of Canadians living in over 220 communities who were impacted by climate disasters like wildfires, flooding, drought, toxic air quality and extreme heat. It said they expect the numbers to be worse in 2026, and say 20 per cent of Canadians have been impacted this year across 53 cities and towns. The group also points to what they say are high economic costs of climate disasters and their consequences, based on a report it released.
In the press release, Blackwell addressed the climate situation in Clearwater and called for renewable energy over fossil fuels.
“My town has been assessed number one in Canada to suffer a catastrophic wildfire in the near future — this is what keeps me up at night. But we can protect our communities and build a strong economy through investments in wind, solar, and sustainable hydro. Life can be good with a truly national electricity grid — powered by renewable energy, not fossil fuels like LNG.”
The Clearwater mayor said he had private meetings with federal NDP leader Avi Lewis and federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May, alongside a handful of other conference attendees, to discuss the five main points outlined in the press release and joint statement.
“I also spoke about Clearwater-specific emergency management and climate adaptation projects,” he said, and added that emergency management and infrastructure upgrades and climate change adaptation are the same thing these days in fire-and-flood-prone rural B.C.
“I did touch on Clearwater’s experiences with the TransMountain pipeline expansion as well. Both leaders were very keen to hear about the not great parts of that experience,” Blackwell said. He noted some of those negative experiences as wear and tear on roads and infrastructure, social issues, and housing shortages related to the length of the project, among other things.
The joint statement concludes with a call to the Government of Canada.
“We are asking the federal government to stand with us: to reject fossil fuel projects that divide us, and get to work on practical and popular projects that won’t burn down our country – but build us up, Canada Strong.”