McKenna pleased by U.S. ecological support

On World Environment Day, minister underscores nation’s commitment to improvement

OTTAWA— Canada’s Environment minister says she is “heartened” to see states, cities and companies in the U.S. support the Paris climate agreement even as U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House pulls out of the global accord to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

To mark World Environment Day, which Canada hosted for the first time Monday, Catherine McKenna joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a paddle on the Niagara River, where they each underscored the country’s commitment to combat climate change and seize the opportunities they say are available in the emerging “green” economy.

“We won’t walk away from a global plan that has a realistic chance of fighting (climate change). We have a responsibility to future generations of Canadians and we will uphold it,” Trudeau told reporters in Niagaraon-the-Lake.

“The better world you deserve will not come to us without a fight, but it’s a fight we’ll win because it’s a fight we have to win. And like everything Canadians do, we’re going to win it together.”

In an interview with the Star, McKenna reiterated her statement last week that she is “very disappointed” with the U.S. decision to drop out of the Paris climate agreement. The 2015 accord involves more than 190 countries that pledged to reduce emissions causing climate change, with the common goal of preventing the worst damage of a warming world.

But McKenna added that she be- lieves Trump’s decision to pull out of the agreement has galvanized others in the U.S. — such as the California and Washington state governments — to try to stick to the Paris accord. A group of state governments called the United States Climate Alliance has vowed to implement the accord in their own jurisdictions regardless of what Trump does.

“In a strange way, it’s actually made people step up and say, ‘Climate change is real. We need to be working. We need to be working together,’ ” McKenna said.

Under the Paris Agreement, Canada has vowed to cut emissions to 30-per-cent below their 2005 level by 2030. On Monday, Green party Leader Elizabeth May said in a statement that those targets are “the weakest” of any G7 country, calling them “substandard” remnants of the former Conservative government’s climate policy.