Update June 19, 2018: In addition to axing the province’s cap and trade program, Ontario Premier-designate Doug Ford has announced the shut down of GreenON, the provincial agency that helped homes and businesses lower their energy costs while tackling climate change through rebates and other incentives.
At a time when fighting climate change is more urgent than ever, our own governments seem to have left Canadian climate leadership hanging in the balance.
At the federal level, the Trudeau government announced the $4.5 billion purchase of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project, prompting celebration in the oil patch and outrage from the environmental community.
I get that these pipeline decisions are tough, multifaceted, and include a lot of political give-and-take — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has tied the approval of the pipeline to the province’s carbon tax, for example. Nevertheless, a lot people feel let down.
If you voted for the Trudeau government because you wanted strong climate action, the pipeline buyout represents the failure to break free of legacy fossil fuel infrastructure, and a shrinking of the window of time when we can prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
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