Canada shouldn’t stray from climate commitments in face of criticism
Things look bleak these days for the federal government’s Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. But Canada should stay the course.
The framework represents Canada’s primary compliance path with the Paris climate accord, requiring provinces to establish a price on carbon or have one imposed by Ottawa.
Opposition Conservatives have railed against the plan in the House of Commons. Newly-elected Ontario Premier Doug Ford is scrapping his province’s cap-and-trade system and Alberta’s United Conservative party leader, Jason Kenney, proposes to ditch his province’s carbon tax, as he seeks the premiership in 2019. Recent polling suggests that Canadians’ opposition to carbon pricing has grown since policy details have been finalized.
Perhaps most troubling for the federal government are the ongoing actions of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has withdrawn from the Paris accord and begun to dismantle emission reduction policies enacted under Barack Obama, while dismissing the dangers of climate change as a hoax.