Canadian aboriginal leaders demanded Wednesday a bigger role in the country’s fight against climate change, on the eve of a meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and provincial leaders, as a self-imposed national deadline looms to start cutting Carbon dioxide emissions.
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Meanwhile, Premier Christy Clark of British Columbia – which introduced North America’s first carbon tax eight years ago – lauded the success of the provincial tax but warned against raising it at a time of global economic weakness.
The Prime Minister looks forward to collaborative work with Indigenous leaders and Premiers on clean growth and climate change.
But at those talks, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said this was only a floor.
“The fact that we have consensus on the need to include carbon pricing in our approach to addressing climate change right across the country is a great thing indeed”.
“I believe a carbon tax would have a negative impact on quality of life in the North. Canada’s climate change goals must be conducted in a way that does not significantly impact northern costs of living, undermine food security or threaten emerging economies”, said Pasloski, who ran as the Conservative candidate for Yukon in the 2008 territorial election.
The lone hold-out, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, has vowed to reject a carbon tax he says will cost the prairie province’s economy up to Can$1 billion.
But the provinces, which enjoy significant jurisdiction over the environment, are wary of Ottawa’s intentions and say they should be allowed to cut carbon emissions their own way. Another is the development of cap-and-trade markets in which large emitters are penalized for exceeding emissions caps and can buy credits from others who emit less.
Northern premiers don’t like those kinds of ideas.
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger, who like Wall faces re-election this spring, said there’s a common understanding among the premiers that action on climate change can and should take many paths.
Alluding to Quebec seeking an injunction to block a pan-Canadian pipeline from Alberta to Atlantic Coast refineries, Trudeau said “the choice between pipelines and wind turbines is a false one”.
(March 3, 2016) (Vancouver, BC) ― When former Prime Minister Paul Martin hosted the First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders meeting in the lead up to the Kelowna Accord in 2005, the Native Women’s Association of Canada was at the table.
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Trudeau said they are to meet again in the fall when the working groups are to report back.
