Grits’ green shift takes hold with Trudeau cabinet
Trudeau appoints a minister of environment and climate change
It has been almost a decade since then Liberal leader Stephane Dion proposed a “Green Shift” in Canada — with disastrous political consequences — but the change appears to be taking hold with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first cabinet.
Dion, a champion of action on climate change as environment minister, returned to government Wednesday when he was appointed foreign minister as well as the chair of a new cabinet committee on environment, climate change and energy that includes a rising star in Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna.
After years of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives skirting concerns over greenhouse gas emissions and decrying any suggestion of a “job- killing carbon tax,” climate change is now a cabinet- level priority in Ottawa.
“Names matter,” said Greenpeace Canada climate researcher Keith Stewart. “The name change is an indication dealing with climate change is now something the government does; it’s no longer a side division within a minor ministry.”
“This is more than symbolism,” Green party Leader Elizabeth May said in a statement.
With a pivotal United Nations climate change conference beginning at the end of November, the change in the government’s rhetoric on the issue was immediate. Developing new government policies will take more time as Trudeau has committed to go to Paris with the provincial premiers and co- operate with them on a national strategy.
“Canada is going to be a strong and positive actor on the world stage, including in Paris at COP 21,” Trudeau said following the cabinet swearing- in ceremony at Ottawa’s Rideau Hall. “That’s why we have a very strong minister — not just of the environment and climate change — who’ll be at the heart of this discussion.”
McKenna, a rookie MP from Ottawa, has a background practicing international trade law. She founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad, acted as a negotiator for the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor as well as serving as executive director of the public policy organization Banff Forum.
“Every government does things differently and puts portfolios together in its own manner,” noted Tim McMillan, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers ( CAPP). “We’ll be looking to work with the government ministries that overlap our responsibilities ... the minister of environment and climate change is one of those we will be reaching out to engage.”
Another will be rookie Winnipeg MP Jim Carr, who was named natural resources minister.
Under Harper, Ottawa developed a GHG policy for the transportation and electricity sectors — the two largest sources of emissions — but did not for the fastest- growing source of emissions, the oil and gas industry. Trudeau has pledged to “establish a pan- Canadian framework” to address the climate issue.
The new environment, climate change and energy committee, to be chaired by Dion, includes, among others, McKenna, Carr, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and Science Minister Kirsty Duncan, a University of Windsor climatology professor who served on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Dion, who chaired the 2005 UN Climate Change Summit in Montreal, made the GHG issue the key theme of his 2008 election campaign as Liberal leader and was trounced by Harper.
“Stephane Dion, love him or hate, you’ve got to give him kudos for sticking to his guns,” said Greenpeace’s Stewart. “He believes strongly action on climate change has to happen ... he’s not going to let it to be window dressing. You can’t expect to appoint him to chair a committee and not expect it to rock some boats.”
A carbon tax was a key element in Dion’s Green Shift and Trudeau has already warned it’s coming after Canada walked away from the Kyoto accord and is falling short of its 2009 commitment at Copenhagen to cut GHG emissions 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. Ottawa has now set a 30 per cent reduction from 2005 levels by 2030.
Canada accounts for about 1.6 per cent of GHGs worldwide, making it the ninth- largest emitter globally and was often dismissed as a laggard on climate action under Harper.
“Make no mistake,” Trudeau said in June, “the Liberal party will be putting a price on carbon.”
He’s also said setting an ambitious but arbitrary target to reduce GHGs without a credible plan to achieve it — working with provinces, given they own the natural resources — is essentially worthless. Alberta’s new NDP government has a panel reviewing its climate- change policies — including a levy on excess GHG emissions — that will report by December.
“There are a lot of moving pieces right now federally and provincially,” McMillan said.
The challenge for CAPP members is they’re moving away from the industry- friendly policies that have for so long defined the Conservative governments in Ottawa and Alberta.