Recently, the Ontario and Prairies have stated that they weren’t consulted about Canada’s higher target to cut greenhouse gas pollution, while the other provinces welcome the federal government’s new goal for 2030.
The division is a sign-policy circling around tackling climate change and remains a source of friction in some federal-provincial relations as Ottawa pushes the country towards a net-zero by 2050 but rejects that there has been any lack of communication.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged at a recent global leaders summit to reduce the emissions of these heat-trapping gases by 40-45% below the 2005 levels, by the end of the decade.
The percentage is four to nine percent higher than the 36% that the Liberal Government has said that it can achieve under the existing measures, which is already above the 30% target committed to under the Paris Agreement.
Under the International contract, the countries have been asked to continue to submit national greenhouse gas reduction targets that are each supposed to be more ambitious than the last one.
Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, Environment and Climate Change Minister has asked the opposition party leaders to provide their thoughts on what the new target should be before Trudeau unveils the new goal.
Moreover, his office said that he has also called his provincial and territorial counterparts over the winter to discuss the issues, and has also asked for the opinions through a letter in early March, and has also booked some follow-up meetings.
However, the ministers in Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan have said that they weren’t consulted.
Alberta Environment Minister Jason Nixon said in a statement that the government had a chance to share its climate priorities with Ottawa before the last week’s summit and added that they were not consulted nor had been made aware of the details of the prime minister’s new emissions reductions target.
Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba have long been reluctant to the federal Liberal’s approach to energy and climate policies, and most notably around its charging of a federal carbon price on the consumer goods.
A court battle over the move was ultimately put to rest after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Ottawa’s backstop was constitutional.
Minister Warren Kaeding, Saskatchewan Environment Minister said that the new target of up to 45% fewer emissions was concerning because of how that ambition may further affect the competitiveness of its trade-dependent industries including the potash, agriculture, oil, and gas.
Even though some provinces said that they weren’t consulted, there are others including British Columbia that welcomed the higher target. A spokeswoman from Nova Scotia’s department of environment and climate change said that it is always talking to Ottawa about reducing the emissions, and it completely supports the cause.
It seems that Canada’s new goal is less ambitious than that of what the U.S. had promised which is to reduce greenhouse gas by 50% by 2030.
Lastly, Layzell said that promoting such new chances would help establish a clean transition.
