Canada is two-faced on climate

Canada has two climate faces. There’s the Paris face where Canada became a reborn climate leader and then there’s the domestic face where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are showing early signs of perpetuating the status quo.

“Canada is back, my good friends,” Trudeau told the delegates at the recent Paris talks. “We’re here to help, to build an agreement that will do our children and grandchildren proud.” Trudeau talked about relying on scientific evidence and advice, and implementing policies to develop a low-carbon economy, including carbon pricing.

Back in Canada it appears to be business as usual. The Liberal government has confirmed that the National Energy Board reviews of the Energy East and Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain pipelines will continue, despite a campaign promise that the NEB Board and process would be overhauled before hearings proceeded.

Then the hiring of a notorious pro-tar sands lobbyist to a high-level position in the Minister of Natural Resources’ office boggles the mind. Before becoming chief of staff to Minister Jim Carr, Janet Annesley worked for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers at the exact time that CAPP was lobbying to gut environmental regulations.

You can’t be a climate leader in Paris and then allow the oily NEB hearings to continue. You can’t profess to be a climate leader and then appoint a former Big Oil lobbyist as a high-ranking bureaucrat. You can’t be a climate leader and support tarsands and pipeline expansion. You can’t be both.

Action must follow words. Sound climate policy must follow rhetoric. Rolly Montpellier, Kanata