For Immediate Release
February 4, 2009

Special Delivery: Canada, Get Your Head Out of the Tar Sands
Council of Canadians to Deliver New Tar Sands Documentary to Parliament Hill as part of an Energy Day of Action

Ottawa / February 4, 2009 - The Council of Canadians will be making a special delivery to Members of Parliament on Wednesday February 4, as part of the organization’s second annual, Take Charge! A National Day of Action to Demand a Canadian Energy Strategy. The message is clear: Recognize the serious consequences of Alberta’s tar sands and oppose any exemption in any binational climate policy negotiations.

WHAT: Media availability / photo opportunity
WHO: Maude Barlow, Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and Special Advisor on Water to the President of the UN General Assembly and Andrea Harden-Donahue, Council of Canadians Energy Campaigner will make brief statements to the media, followed by delivery of 308 DVDs of ‘Dark Side of the Boom: Canada’s Mordor’ to Canadian MPs.
WHERE: Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill
WHEN: 10:45am, February 4, 2009

“It’s time Canadians and Members of Parliament saw the dark side of the boom – the real impacts of the tar sands,” says Andrea Harden-Donahue, Energy Campaigner with the Council of Canadians. All MPs will be receiving copies of an 8-minute documentary, ‘The Dark Side of the Boom: Canada’s Mordor’, which can be viewed online at: www.canadians.org/energy. This special delivery to Members of Parliament, just two weeks before the first visit of US President Barack Obama, will also include a letter calling on them to oppose any exemption for the tar sands from a joint climate change pact with the US.

In addition to this delivery, activities are taking place in communities across the country. From screenings of ‘The Dark Side of the Boom’ to letter writing and information sharing, people are participating in Take Charge! by raising awareness of the need for a Canadian Energy Strategy.

“The stakes are too high for our government to be gambling with our future, allowing flawed free trade agreements, free market rules and big oil to set the agenda with serious social and environmental consequences,” says Barlow. “Now, more than ever, we need a Canadian Energy Strategy that ensures energy security and helps transition to sustainable energy production and consumption.”

As part of Take Charge! the Council of Canadians is launching a national campaign collecting signatures of municipal, provincial and federal representatives and politicians for a declaration in support of a Canadian Energy Strategy.

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For more information or to arrange an interview contact: Dylan Penner, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685