By: John Woodside, reporter for the Local Journalism Initiative
Although Parliament won’t look much different, some experts say Justin Trudeau’s bruised minority government has given other parties leverage to push for more ambitious climate action.
That’s largely because the threat of an election is off the table at a time when Canadians are demanding climate action.
“No one can use the threat of ‘support me or we will launch an election’, that is over, that card has been played,” said Isabelle Turcotte, director of federal policy at the Pembina Institute.
Turcotte noted that every major party has a climate plan of some kind, and the fights over whether a carbon tax is largely cleared since the 2019 elections as evidence that Canadians are taking the climate crisis more seriously.
“Canadians clearly want progressive climate policies and they need a government that is going to cooperate,” he said.
That is certainly the case with various environmental advocacy organizations like Greenpeace Canada, Environmental Defense, Équiterre and others that have come together under the No More Delays banner calling on Trudeau to work across party lines to phase out subsidies. to fossil fuels. introduce just transition legislation and implement the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“Certainly we need Justin Trudeau to step up and really work with other parties, but we need the other parties to step up and use their influence,” said Julia Levin, senior program manager for climate and energy in the group of Defense Environmental Defense.
“Especially the parties that come up with ambitious proposals, we need to use their influence on the climate crisis,” he said.
One area of focus will be the liberal promise to accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies, but strengthening the climate accountability bill that is supposed to guide Canada to net zero is also expected to be a factor in the upcoming legislative climate battles.
Turcotte said he hopes the NDP will see an opportunity to hold liberals accountable for the climate file.
“At times, the NDP has been hesitant to really differentiate itself from the Liberal Party on the climate and there is a great opportunity for them here,” he said.
Turcotte highlighted a table on the NDP platform calling for national and sectoral carbon budgets to help guide a transition to a clean economy in every corner of the country, calling them “really critical tools” for creating the transparency and certainty needed to ensure a successful transition.
“Liberals have a similar, but much closer, commitment to targets for the oil and gas sector,” he said, referring to a promise to limit emissions and then reduce them over time.
“Let’s build on that, and apply that across the board,” he said.
Although a minority government will make it difficult for liberals to push their agenda in Parliament, being forced to work collaboratively is more likely to lead to stronger policy, Levin says.
“We saw stronger climate liability legislation because all parties with progressive views on climate change were involved,” he said.
“Canada has a great history of minority (governments) working together to pass really ambitious policies, and we need that to apply to climate action now.”
Kathryn Harrison, a professor at the University of British Columbia and author of Passing the Buck: Federalism and Canadian Environmental Policy, said that meeting the liberal goal of reducing greenhouse gas levels from 40 to 45 percent in 2005 by 2030 will require a sharp reduction given that emissions have barely moved during that time.
With promises to cut oil and gas emissions, decarbonize power generation, modernize large-scale buildings, and other commitments, Harrison says liberals are likely busy on the bureaucratic side.
“Regulation is slow,” he said. “I think the liberals, before they can get back at the voters, at least with a credible climate story, they are going to have to show progress on some of these things that will require a real push.” she said.
Harrison said the backdrop to this election was “25 years” of persecution, where parties promised emissions reductions without explaining how they would be achieved. He said 2019 was the start of that change with the carbon price proposal.
“Even then, the liberals gave the impression that they could achieve a 30 percent reduction at a carbon price of $ 50 per ton, which no academic expert would believe for a moment,” he said.
“What’s new this time is that in December 2020, the Liberals put a plan on the table with a carbon price of up to $ 170 per ton that could really credibly cut emissions by 30 percent.”
One lesson for the NDP, which was criticized for being too vague on the climate file, is that to make progress with voters, it will need to demonstrate how it could implement its plan, according to Clean Energy Canada CEO Merran Smith.
“While one party lacked ambition, others made the mistake of providing too little information, presenting ideas that were vague, modelless and potentially expensive,” Smith said in a statement.
“A good climate plan is one that can be implemented efficiently and effectively.”
The Sierra Club Canada Foundation echoed the call for opposition parties to step up.
“If the parties want to see improvements in their performance, they will have to speak and act unequivocally on behalf of those who want a safe and healthy environment,” the group said in a statement.
Reference-ygknews.ca