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Some of this is fair comment, @JonathanWNV, but I would offer some constructive points for everyone to consider.
1/x #cdnpoli https://twitter.com/jonathanwnv/status/1361024908348841984
1/x #cdnpoli https://twitter.com/jonathanwnv/status/1361024908348841984
As you know, Kyoto wasn’t actually the beginning of the greenhouse gas discussion, nor the first agreement.
It was a Conservative PM who first put
’s name to a global climate agmt pledging to reduce GHG emissions: Mulroney at Rio in 1992.
2/x #cdnpoli https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/canada-signs-convention-on-climate-change
It was a Conservative PM who first put
’s name to a global climate agmt pledging to reduce GHG emissions: Mulroney at Rio in 1992.2/x #cdnpoli https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/canada-signs-convention-on-climate-change
That PM, and his US counterpart, also signed the Canada-US Air Quality Agmt to fight acid rain by reducing emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, and later ozone. That succeeded thanks to one of the first cap-and-trade programs.
3/x #cdnpoli
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/air-pollution/issues/transboundary/canada-united-states-air-quality-agreement-overview.html
3/x #cdnpoli
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/air-pollution/issues/transboundary/canada-united-states-air-quality-agreement-overview.html
In 2001 Ontario Premier Mike Harris order an end to coal electricity generation at Lakeview Generating Station by 2005.
Thus began the phase-out of Ontario coal - heralded as “the single largest GHG reduction measure in North America”.
4/x #cdnpoli
https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/end-of-coal-ontario-coal-phase-out.pdf
Thus began the phase-out of Ontario coal - heralded as “the single largest GHG reduction measure in North America”.
4/x #cdnpoli
https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/end-of-coal-ontario-coal-phase-out.pdf
While Ontario’s coal electricity phase-out was sometimes stormy, it proceeded and succeeded with cross-party support. The select all-party Legislature Cmtee recommended it in 2002. All three parties supported phase-out in ON’s 2003 election.
5/x #cdnpoli https://www.ontario.ca/page/end-coal
5/x #cdnpoli https://www.ontario.ca/page/end-coal
Thanks to follow-through by successive govts for 13 years, Ontario became North America’s first jurisdiction to end coal-fired electricity generation, creating today’s cleaner electricity system.
GHG emissions fell 88% from 37.6 Mt in 2000 to 4.4 Mt in 2018.
6/x #cdnpoli
GHG emissions fell 88% from 37.6 Mt in 2000 to 4.4 Mt in 2018.
6/x #cdnpoli
In 2012 Conservative PM Harper ordered closure of the rest of Canada’s coal electricity plants by 2030 (unless using CCS). Transition to cleaner electricity in NS, NB, SK, AB is resulting in one of Earth’s largest clean electricity systems.
7/x #cdnpoli https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/ottawa-unveils-new-coal-fired-plant-emissions-rules/article4522237/?_ga=2.185759657.1015642712.1613379703-1454205673.1613379703
7/x #cdnpoli https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/ottawa-unveils-new-coal-fired-plant-emissions-rules/article4522237/?_ga=2.185759657.1015642712.1613379703-1454205673.1613379703
And, of course, it was Conservative PM Harper whose government developed and submitted Canada’s GHG reduction goals - 30% reduction of 2005 emissions by 2030 - to the Paris COP-21 conference, which remain the foundation of climate policy.
8/x #cdnpoli https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawa-commits-to-30-per-cent-cut-in-emissions-but-not-for-oil-sands/article24453757/
climate policy.8/x #cdnpoli https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawa-commits-to-30-per-cent-cut-in-emissions-but-not-for-oil-sands/article24453757/
I recognize @JonathanWNV you know this history and these facts better than 99% of Canadians.
But not everyone does, and it cannot help to confuse the public with statements such as “the Conservative Party never believed in fighting climate change”.
9/x #cdnpoli
But not everyone does, and it cannot help to confuse the public with statements such as “the Conservative Party never believed in fighting climate change”.
9/x #cdnpoli
IMO you are on a positive policy track in many regards.
Net zero 2050, with five year milestone reporting, is a policy framework which respects infrastructure planning, financing and economic life cycles.
So too does longer-term forecasting of carbon pricing.
10/x #cdnpoli
Net zero 2050, with five year milestone reporting, is a policy framework which respects infrastructure planning, financing and economic life cycles.
So too does longer-term forecasting of carbon pricing.
10/x #cdnpoli
You know well the scale of investment which is already driving the energy transition and its attendant emission reduction - across Canada and around the world. Almost every day there is news of major developments and investments in clean tech and cleaner energy.
11/x #cdnpoli
11/x #cdnpoli
You also know predictability is an enabler of investment - while unpredictability and uncertainty keep investors on the sidelines, or looking elsewhere.
Here in Canada, we allowed political uncertainty - politicization, polarization - to chill energy investment.
12/x #cdnpoli
Here in Canada, we allowed political uncertainty - politicization, polarization - to chill energy investment.
12/x #cdnpoli
This, then, is my main point.
Let’s try to regain that common sensibility of the 2001-2 Ontario Select Committee.
Let’s not reduce complex questions to partisan spin, nor confuse citizens with election sloganeering around crucial economic-environmental policy.
13/x #cdnpoli
Let’s try to regain that common sensibility of the 2001-2 Ontario Select Committee.
Let’s not reduce complex questions to partisan spin, nor confuse citizens with election sloganeering around crucial economic-environmental policy.
13/x #cdnpoli
Is it true Conservatives have been for and against cap-and-trade? Sure.
That Conservatives have been for and against carbon pricing? Sure. (Indeed in 2007 Alberta became North America’s first jurisdiction to regulate GHG emissions via a carbon pricing program.)
14/x #cdnpoli
That Conservatives have been for and against carbon pricing? Sure. (Indeed in 2007 Alberta became North America’s first jurisdiction to regulate GHG emissions via a carbon pricing program.)
14/x #cdnpoli
Is it true the Harper govt “didn’t do enough” to reduce emissions?
I guess; as also true the prior Chrétien govt “didn’t do enough”.
Is it true they “did nothing”? Not at all.
Steps taken by Mulroney, Chrétien, Harper, provincial govts capped emissions growth.
15/x #cdnpoli
I guess; as also true the prior Chrétien govt “didn’t do enough”.
Is it true they “did nothing”? Not at all.
Steps taken by Mulroney, Chrétien, Harper, provincial govts capped emissions growth.
15/x #cdnpoli
Now we must do more than simply cap emissions at 2007 peaks. Now we must reduce them.
That requires approaches and consensus that survive changes in governments
Policies that endure, provide certainty, attract investment, and get results.
Let’s find that path.
16/16 #cdnpoli
That requires approaches and consensus that survive changes in governments
Policies that endure, provide certainty, attract investment, and get results.
Let’s find that path.
16/16 #cdnpoli
