PREMIERS TOUT ENVIRONMENTAL ACHIEVEMENTS
OTTAWA • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers used a historic first ministers meeting Monday to trumpet a new era in combating climate change and a rebranding of Canada globally as they prepared to head to Paris for a key United Nations climate-change conference.
The country’s first ministers say Canada’s international reputation as an environmental laggard could soon disappear because the country is moving ahead with meaningful action on the environment.
Trudeau and the premiers used the Canadian Museum of Nature as a backdrop for their first meeting dedicated to climate change, with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley saying the gathering was to “speak the truth” about the climate challenge.
Top scientists highlighted for first ministers the troublesome situation facing Canada as a result of climate change, including the fact that the country’s rate of warming is about twice the global rate.
Trudeau emerged from the meeting to say that federal, provincial and territorial governments are “united in our commitment to stepping up in the fight against climate change.”
“Canadians understand that we need concrete action. We need a vision and we need concerted efforts across all the different levels of government in order to meet the challenges in terms of the environment and climate change,” the prime minister told reporters.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall provided a note of caution, however, telling reporters that while Canada needs to do better on its record on climate change, it can’t forget the consequences on the economy.
“As we are meeting, there are literally tens of thousands of Canadians who have been laid off of their jobs in the sector, and there is the prospect for more difficult news if (oil) prices stay low,” Wall told reporters, speaking alongside Trudeau.
“As we prepare for Paris and to present a constructive and national front to the world, we need to be mindful of that fact. We need to work hard to ensure that we’re doing no further harm to an industry that is facing great difficulty.”
Earlier in the day, Trudeau praised the Alberta government for the climate-change strategy it announced Sunday, which will phase in a $30-per-tonne, economywide carbon tax, phase out coal emissions in the province by 2030 and move to renewable electricity, and slap a cap on oilsands emissions, among other measures.
Notley is hoping Alberta’s new climate-change plan, combined with the national approach presented by the federal government, will lead to “a significant de-escalation of conflict across Canada and worldwide about the Alberta oilsands.”
Notley said the gathering of first ministers has launched a new era of cooperation between the provinces and federal government.
The meeting allowed first ministers to come together in the nation’s capital “to speak the truth about climate change, to stop denying that there is an issue and to begin doing our part instead,” she said.
More than 190 countries gathering in Paris for the climate-change conference Nov. 30 are looking to lock in a framework that prevents global average temperatures from increasing two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.