Trudeau’s Canada won’t rid itself of coal
PM pushed green agenda only to see opposition mount
Set against lush hills, deep inlets and snow-kissed mountain peaks, Vancouver is the wellspring of Canadian environmentalism — and the heart of its climate dilemma.
British Columbia’s premier city prides itself on its green bona fides. The province is the birthplace of Greenpeace, ushered in Canada’s most successful carbon tax and is governed by a coalition that includes Green party lawmakers. It’s also the one-time home to a young Justin Trudeau.
Less celebrated is Vancouver’s status as a major hub for coal and crude oil. That awkward paradox is an example of how Canada’s climate ambitions regularly bump up against its reality as one of the world’s top crude producers, coal exporters and per-capita emitters of carbon — even with an avowedly progressive prime minister like Trudeau.
Politically, Canada is riven over how to square the nation’s vast resource wealth with action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Trudeau has pushed a green agenda only to see political opposition mount: the more he insists “the environment and the economy go hand in hand,” the more both sides feel betrayed.
With national elections due this fall, his attempts at having it both ways threaten to derail his bid for a second term.
The Canadian divide between climate action and resource development falls somewhere along the jagged cuts of the Rocky Mountains, 965 kilometres east of Vancouver near British Columbia’s border with Alberta — in places like Sparwood, population 3,500.
Sparwood is Canada’s de facto coal capital. There are five mines near the town, one of them directly overlooking it, all owned by Teck Resources Inc.
About five times a day, a train loaded with coal leaves this region and winds its way to Vancouver for export. Teck is the dominant employer in Sparwood; even the mayor is on the company payroll.
“Do we fight the stigma of coal? Yes, we do,” said David Wilks, who juggles mayoral duties with work at a Teck mine. He says that sense of guilt is projected by “what I’ll call the urban areas of Canada who think coal is a dirty four-letter word.”
Yet not all coal is the same, nor is it all a target of environmental groups. Canada produces thermal coal for electricity generation and metallurgical coal used to make steel.
While Trudeau is pressing to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2030 and driving a global push for others to do the same, Canada remains a major producer and exporter of metallurgical coal, with the industry paying into British Columbia’s carbon tax.