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Twitter! We need your help sharing a David & Goliath tale about how the big 5 banks are preventing #climateaction in Canada AND muzzling criticism of their fossil fuel loans.
Please retweet this
- we aren't even allowed to PAY MONEY to get this into mainstream media.
#cdnpoli
Please retweet this
- we aren't even allowed to PAY MONEY to get this into mainstream media.#cdnpoli
First, general context about the banks and THEN how mainstream institutions refuse to run our ads and polls.
CDN banks have poured over $500B USD into fossil fuel infrastructure and expansion since the #ParisAgreement.
CDN banks have poured over $500B USD into fossil fuel infrastructure and expansion since the #ParisAgreement.
Since they're smaller than some of the US giants they are overexposed to the fossil fuel bubble. TD for example has huge investments in TCenergy AND lends money for TCE's pipelines. Can they say no to new loans if their profits depend on TC's stock staying high?
The banks keep doubling down on the carbon bubble so they don't take a short term loss AND THIS IS WHY the Liberals are so two-faced on climate.
Think about it! Why buy a pipeline if you still get zero votes from Alberta? Because Bay Street told you to. The Liberals couldn't do ANYTHING on climate until they booted their #1 Bay Street insider: Bill Morneau.
I had a friend who works high up in a bank tell me they couldn't resist fossil fuel loans because they pay like a high-risk asset, but AREN'T because they know the government will prop them up if they fail.
Unless we force the banks to pop their carbon bubble by threatening to take away other business, they will keep making these loans and the Liberals will keep propping up the fossil industry.
NOW comes the part of the thread about how insidious the big 5 banks power is. And this is why we need this to go viral. In the UK, Deloitte did a poll about whether customers would leave a bank that was harming the environment - 60% said yes! https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4025396/poll-uk-banking-customers-demanding-greener-financial-services
Keep in mind, this is Deloitte, they're not exactly SJWs. But when we tried to PAY MONEY to commission the same poll in Canada from a major polling firm, we were told it would be a 'conflict of interest' because they do so much work for the banks.
Ok, fine. So we decided to PAY MONEY to take out ads on a Toronto radio station about our #BankSwitch campaign. We had one condition: the ads had to include the phrase "the big 5 CDN banks have poured more than $500B into fossil fuel industry since the Paris Agreement."
After getting the run around for weeks, and all kinds of suggestions about messaging that will appeal to their listeners, we were told "we won't be able to include the phrase." They didn't say why, but a major bank is one of their biggest partners.
The TD friends of the environment foundation is especially gross because it makes it really hard for so many good enviro groups to call out TD. TDSB ecoschools? Alternatives Journal? Project Neutral? -- all getting paid by TD.
What's the TLDR here? We won't get climate action in Canada until the banks get out of the fossil fuel business, but in the mainstream media you aren't even allowed to tell people about their excessive lending. If Canadians knew, many of them would be pissed.
So please spread this online and by word of mouth and get your friends to sign up for #BankSwitch. Without it, we'll just get more half-ass Liberal mumbo-jumbo until the planet dies. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/bankswitch
