Countries asked to ramp up efforts
United Nations head warns of ‘dramatic climate emergency’
OTTAWA — The head of the United Nations is urging world leaders to step up in the face of “a dramatic climate emergency” as wildfires blaze across the Arctic and the Amazon rainforest, and federal politicians in Canada squabble over whether the Liberal government’s carbon price is an essential tool or a rip off.
Speaking at the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France on Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres warned of melting ice in Greenland and how the past five years were the hottest on record. He is calling on countries that signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 — including Canada — to ramp up their commitments to slash emissions at a New York conference set for Sept. 23, less than a month before Canadians go to the polls for the next federal election.
With that vote in the offing, the Conservatives pounced Monday on an apparent backtrack by the Liberal government that it would not increase the carbon price-and-rebate system after 2022.
In June, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna was unequivocal that the minimum carbon price enforced across Canada will not go up beyond $50 per tonne of emissions in 2022. “The price will not go up,” she said at the time.
Now, after an interview with the Globe and Mail over the weekend, McKenna and her office have reverted to their previous position: that the future carbon price will be set in consultation with provinces and territories as part of the Liberal government’s framework to fight climate change.
Conservative MP and finance critic Pierre Poilievre accused the Liberals of trying to fool Canadians about the cost of the carbon price that kicked in at $20 per tonne of emissions this year and is scheduled to rise each year to $50 per tonne in 2022.
He insisted the carbon price is nothing more than a tax that doesn’t actually fight climate change and is designed to take money from Canadians.
“If this was such a popular idea, why are they covering it up? Why did Catherine McKenna stand up and deny that the tax would go above $50? We know why: because they were trying to keep it secret until the election is over, when they will no longer need voters but still need their money,” Poilievre said.
Later, during her own news conference in Ottawa, McKenna pushed back against the assertion that the Liberals have some sort of “secret agenda” with the carbon price.
“Our position has not changed ... There’s no intention to go up beyond that. Any decision would be made in discussions with provinces and territories, with stakeholders,” she said.
“We need to continue to fight the misinformation that is coming from the Conservative Party — and even worse, the fact that they don’t recognize the fact that we’re all paying the cost of climate change right now.”
Echoing the UN’s call for increased action to reduce emissions, McKenna said it is important to do more, and said the next steps in the Liberal climate plan will be unveiled during the coming election campaign.
On Monday in France, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada would contribute $15 million and water bombers to help the wildfires in the Amazon, a lush region that draws a huge amount of carbon from the atmosphere.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a collective of scientists from around the world, has called for unprecedented and rapid changes to the global economy and society in order to restrain warming to 1.5 C by 2100.