Author: CREDNB

A Parliamentary petition, now open for signatures, was developed by Ole Hendrickson, a CRED-NB ally in Ontario concerned about the link between civilian nuclear power and the nuclear weapons industry. We share his concern. Key info from the petition:

• Canada is poised to award a multi-billion dollar contract — the largest federal contract ever — to a consortium of U.S. companies;
• If this happens, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, a former Atomic Energy of Canada Limited subsidiary, will be owned by American firms calling themselves “Nuclear Laboratories Partners of Canada.”;
• The new contract would last up to 20 years, cost taxpayers over 24 billion dollars, and allow private commercial work at Atomic Energy of Canada Limited sites across Canada;
• Hundreds of millions of dollars in contract management fees would be paid annually to firms that operate U.S. nuclear weapons facilities;
• Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ current projects include a $1+ billion facility to enable plutonium research, and a tritium extraction facility; plutonium and tritium are key explosive ingredients in nuclear weapons;

Read the rest of the petition and sign it HERE.

If you’ve never signed a parliamentary petition before, your name will not be displayed but after signing, you’ll get an email that you click to confirm your email address. You can also choose to get updates on the petition.

CRED-NB member New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA) spokesperson Jim Emberger published a commentary in the Telegraph Journal this week.

“On Earth Day, “Seniors for Climate” rallied at the legislature to remind governments that solutions to recent economic turmoil must reflect climate science.

“Unexpectedly, Premier Susan Holt visited the rally and delivered an enthusiastic address in support of the rally’s message. Days later, she contradicted her uplifting remarks by promoting gas and bitumen pipelines, and LNG exports as Canadian nation-building solutions. That she didn’t recognize her contradictions places her in a new constituency that accepts industry propaganda that climate change can be solved, while burning more fossil fuels.”

Read the full article on the NBASGA website, HERE.

105 environment, labour, Indigenous and community groups, including CRED-NB, released a letter today, July 3, calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government to prioritize building out Canada’s east-west electricity grid with renewable energy, while upholding workers’ and Indigenous rights. 

The following is a summary of the priorities listed in the letter. The full letter can be found HERE.

• Commit significant federal funding toward permitting, planning and construction of strategic interprovincial and intra-provincial electricity transmission projects.
  
• The Green Budget Coalition, Green Economy Network and Climate Action Network Canada each identify a funding commitment of at least $20 billion over five years while the Canada Electricity Advisory Council recommends significant investment and reducing barriers for these transmission projects.
  
• Uphold legal and inherent Indigenous rights for Indigenous communities throughout Canada.
  
• Implement key labour supports as a condition for federal funding on electricity projects.
  
• Alongside the work on transmission and generation, the federal government should strengthen its financial support for energy efficiency, demand-side management, energy storage and other electricity system upgrades.
  
• With these priorities in mind, the federal government should update and implement Canada’s Electricity Strategy. This includes implementing the Clean Electricity Regulations, and continuing to advance Canada’s work to achieve a net-zero electricity grid.

See the press release HERE.

CRED-NB is a member of the Climate Action Network Canada that condemns Parliament’s reckless passage of Bill C-5’s controversial Building Canada Act. The Act erodes democratic principles, runs roughshod over Indigenous rights, shuts Canadians out of decisions that could affect them, and puts the environment at risk.

Bill C-5 sets a dangerous precedent. It gives sweeping and potentially unconstitutional powers to the federal Cabinet to bypass environmental laws and legal safeguards. The Bill allows decisions to be made about “national interest” projects with little public participation, without robust environmental impact assessments, and without the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples.

Read the full media release HERE.

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada that issued a statement condemning the glaring absence of climate change, and climate solutions, from any of the G7 statements released today.

“The leaders of the world’s richest and most powerful countries published a statement on fighting wildfires that completely ignores climate change—the root cause that’s making wildfires so much more deadly and extreme,” said Caroline Brouillette, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada.

“What’s the point of a coalition of like-minded countries if it isn’t even capable of mentioning the existential crisis facing humanity? Instead of showing leadership, Canada’s G7 Presidency catered to the lowest common denominator—for the sake of appeasing a President who couldn’t even be bothered to stick around to the end of the summit.

“Canada was smart to invite other leaders from Global South countries, but it is past time to imagine coalitions that maintain multilateralism without exposing ourselves to the whims of climate deniers like President Trump.

“The G7 Leaders’ Summit was a test of Canada’s climate leadership, and Prime Minister Carney failed.”

Canada must focus on increasing our energy security.

Unfortunately Ontario is increasing reliance on the U.S. by building four U.S. GE-Hitachi nuclear reactors which require U.S. enriched uranium fuel.

This is not the time to increase our economic and energy dependency on the U.S. Sharing renewable electricity interprovincially can cut that dependency.

As Prime Minister Carney has suggested, Canada can be an energy superpower, but only if we follow the world by focusing on low-cost, reliable renewable energy.

We do not need a power corridor from coast to coast. We need more east-west interconnection of regional and distributed transmission systems. This would allow the growth and sharing of new community-based, low-cost renewable energy, creating local green jobs while meeting Canadian needs.

CRED-NB is a member of the coalition of groups that publish the SMRs Information Task Force Bulletin. This information is from the June 2025 bulletin. Read the full edition HERE.

In a open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, 131 civil society groups expressed support for renewable energy and  opposition to federal investment in new nuclear reactors. Fourteen groups from NB including CRED-NB were among those signing the open letter which was sent on May 21, 2025.

To see the letter click here.

En français, clique ici.

Commentary by Emma Fackenthall in the NB Media Co-op

As many countries scramble toward a net-zero future, some are betting on nuclear energy to reach their goal. However, a quiet but profound gender divide is growing around nuclear energy. 

While nuclear power is often hailed as a critical tool in the climate fight, a growing body of research suggests that fewer women than men support nuclear power. This divide can be explained by safety concerns, ecofeminist ethics of care, and the nuclear industry’s macho culture. 

The striking gender divide is another reason to question the viability of nuclear energy to attain climate justice and energy democracy.

For the whole article, click here.

CRED-NB is a signatory to the Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac) letter to Prime Minister Carney sent the day after the federal election. The letter congratulates Prime Minister Mark Carney and urges him to use this opportunity to build a fairer, more resilient society grounded in reliable, renewable Canadian solutions.

Prime Minister Carney has long been involved in climate initiatives; now, he has the chance to enact change at a national scale to make Canadians’ lives safer, healthier, and more affordable.

Read the full letter HERE.

Before the election, CAN-Rac released Made-in-Canada Climate Solutions: 2025 Election Priorities, setting out its calls to action for federal parties this campaign. See more details here.

In 2018, NB Power partnered with ARC Nuclear (now ARC Clean Technology) to develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). That plan is unlikely to come to fruition since ARC has been unable to find a financial partner. Also, the ARC-100 reactor would require high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), which is only produced in Russia.

On Earth Day, April 22, 2025, the Globe and Mail reported the following from the NB Minister for Energy and Finance, René Legacy.

“The original plan to have one or two of the reactors built for 2030, that time frame is probably not going to happen,” Mr. Legacy said, adding that first-of-a-kind reactors are expensive while acknowledging the province’s fiscal constraints. “So we’re looking at, probably, different options.”

See more details on ARC-100 nuclear here.