“Canada stands at the threshold of building our clean growth economy,” the opening line of Canada’s new declaration on clean growth and climate change states. The declaration was endorsed by the prime minister and premiers in Vancouver Thursday.   “We will grow our economy while reducing emissions. We will capitalize on the opportunity of a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy to create good-paying and long-term jobs. We will do this in partnership with Indigenous peoples based on recognition of rights, respect and cooperation,” the Vancouver Declaration continues.      The document itself is not a national climate plan, but rather lays the foundation for one to be finalized in the fall. The document represents a major change in the political tide for Canada, with the federal government, provinces and territories working together to reduce Canada’s production of global warming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.   “Politicians coming together and talking about this is a great step for Canada,” Dave Sawyer, a leading environmental economist in Canada, told DeSmog Canada. “It is very positive that first ministers are setting up a process to align provincial climate policies and look to fill holes in policies across the country.”

Provincial Climate Policies Hold the Details

Canadians looking for meaningful climate action from the federal government since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol ­— the world’s first climate treaty — in 1997, may be disappointed the Vancouver Declaration lacks specifics.   The six-point document contains no renewable energy targets, sector specific regulations on GHG emissions, or any mention of Canada’s number one contributor to climate change: the oil and gas sector. The sole national target mentioned in the document is a commitment to meet or exceed Canada’s 2030 target of 30 per cent cuts in emissions levels compared to 2005 levels — a target established under the previous federal government that has been criticized as weak.   Sawyer argues many of the details missing in the Vancouver Declaration are actually contained in existing and emerging provincial climate policies and regulations.   “In the past, we have had this tendency of pledging to ambitious targets and then backsliding from there,” Sawyer said. “Over the last ten years of federal policy inaction, we have had a fair amount of provincial policy put in place to drive down emissions.”   In late 2015, Alberta released plans to cap oilsands emissions and phase out coal-fired electrical generation and Saskatchewan adopted  a 50 per cent renewable energy target for 2030. Ontario and Manitoba announced last year they would adopt cap and trade carbon pricing systems.   Building on the success of provincial and territorial policies is a cornerstone of the Vancouver Declaration which recognizes “the commitment of the federal government to work with the provinces and territories in order to complement and support their actions without duplicating them, including by promoting innovation and enabling clean growth across all sectors.”   "What is different this time around is we have a credible federal back stop," Sawyer, who is the CEO of the consultancy EnviroEconomics, told DeSmog. "A subtle reminder to the provinces and territories that if they don't find a way to drive down their emissions the federal government will find a way for them."

Carbon Pricing 'Mechanisms' to be Used 

Pricing carbon pollution emerged as a source of contention in advance of the First Ministers' Meeting. Prior to the Vancouver event, the premiers of Saskatchewan, Yukon, and Manitoba made it clear they would not support Ottawa imposing a national minimum carbon price on the provinces and territories.   During his election campaign Trudeau promised to implement a national price on carbon and indicated a carbon price was an intended outcome of the Vancouver meeting.   “I was happy to see the Prime Minister move away from an exclusive focus on carbon pricing. Carbon pricing alone won't get you there,” Sawyer said from Ottawa. “You need regulations, technology innovation, and other measures as well as carbon pricing to transition cost-effectively to a low carbon economy."   A compromise was found in the end. The Vancouver Declaration commits the premiers to “adopting a broad range of domestic measures, including carbon pricing mechanisms” but not an actual per tonne price of GHG emissions found in cap and trade or carbon tax systems.   What those mechanisms may include has yet to be defined. Any policy measure driving up the costs of burning fossil fuels for energy could be conceived as an aspect of carbon pricing. During the meeting, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil floated the idea that the high rates Nova Scotians pay on electricity fulfills a similar function as a price on carbon.

Working Groups To Study Climate Plan Over Next Six Months 

The Vancouver Declaration also created four federal-provincial working groups that will refine recommendations on the pillars of an eventual pan-Canadian clean growth and climate change framework. Over the next six months the working groups will study clean technology solutions, carbon pricing mechanisms, GHG reductions “opportunities,” and adaptation and climate resilience.   The declaration requires the working groups to “engage Indigenous peoples in the development of the pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change," adding the work of the declaration should be "complemented by a broader engagement process with Indigenous peoples.”   National Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Assembly of First Nations urged Canada to move quickly toward consultation with indigenous peoples.   “We are the first ones to feel the impacts of climate change and we know this crisis is real and it is upon us. Working together we can succeed but we have to start working now,” Bellegarde said in a statement.   Recommendations from the working groups will be submitted to the premiers and the federal government who will then finalize the Canadian climate framework in October. In the meantime, the federal government has committed to funding green infrastructure, public transportation and energy efficiency in social infrastructure to kick start and support low-carbon initiatives across the country.

Image Credit: Screenshot CBCNews.ca

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Despite the federal Conservative government’s seven-year attack on carbon pricing as a “job-killing carbon tax,” Canada is actually making progress provincially on pricing carbon pollution.

Without any direction from the federal government, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec and recently Ontario have all introduced systems that require polluters to pay for the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions they produce (as we’ve pointed out elsewhere in this series, those systems have had varying success).

But without an overarching carbon pricing system there is only so much the provinces can accomplish. [view:in_this_series=block_1]

“There’s nothing stopping the federal government from attempting to help provinces and territories strengthen and expand their existing GHG programs,” Katie Sullivan, North America policy and climate finance director at the International Emissions Trading Association, said.

“Ottawa could provide model rules, methodologies, guidance, tools and centralized infrastructure and architecture for a variety of program elements,” she said. “The federal government could play a valuable ‘enabling’ role.”

Dave Sawyer, a leading economist with EnviroEconomics, told DeSmog Canada a national system doesn’t have to be overly complicated.

“[A] national system could be just an amalgam of provincial policies that align on key administrative features and prices,” he said, adding, “long-term, we need to transition to a national system to keep costs down as we seek more [emissions] reductions.”

Every ship needs a captain.

Is A National Carbon Pricing System In The Cards?

As DeSmog Canada reported last April, the majority of Canadians want a national carbon pricing system. The latest Angus Reid poll shows 75 per cent of Canadians want a national cap and trade system, while 56 per cent support the idea of a national carbon tax. 

So where do the major federal parties stand?

GHG reductions targets according to federal party platform from Environmental Defence's climate scorecard.

Environmental Defence recently released a helpful climate scorecard that compares the four major political parties in Canada on their climate policies.

While the federal NDP and Greens both support their own versions of a national carbon pricing system — via cap and trade and fee and dividend, respectively — the Conservatives and Liberals have expressed no similar support.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been openly critical of carbon pricing in the past, although he did have a few positive words for Alberta’s carbon levy last year. 

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau told Calgary’s Petroleum Club last February he does not support a “one-size-fits-all solution from Ottawa” when it comes to pricing carbon. He said the choice should be left up to the provinces.

An overview of Canada's federal parties from Environmental Defence's climate scorecard.

Bridging the Provincial-Federal Divide

Philip Gass, senior researcher at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), said a province-by-province approach makes sense but that federal support could help encourage provinces hesitant to commit.

“Each province should be allowed to adopt its own approach,” Gass said. “Provinces should adopt whatever carbon pricing system they think will deliver the most reductions, they can administer and most importantly, a system that is politically acceptable.” 

“For provinces that are not going that way we do need some federal direction.”

“There are many of examples in Canada of issues that crossover both federal and provincial jurisdictions like pricing GHG emissions,” Nathalie Chalifour, law professor and co-director of the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability at the University of Ottawa, told DeSmog Canada.

Take the federal Species At Risk Act as an example, she said. While the provinces have jurisdiction over species at risk within their borders, the federal government is responsible for federal lands or species that fall under federal jurisdiction like fisheries.

“Given this shared power, there is a provision in the Act allowing the federal government to intervene and manage endangered species under provincial jurisdiction if the provinces are not getting the job done,” Chalifour told DeSmog Canada. 

(It’s worth nothing that in the thirteen years of the Species At Risk Act the federal government has never exercised this provision.) 

The federal government could set a minimum price on GHG emissions. This approach has been described as a “key policy leveler” for carbon pricing in Canada. It could help resolve certain disparities, like the fact that B.C.’s carbon price is currently twice as high as that of Alberta’s or Quebec’s.

But a minimum price isn’t necessary, just like a national minimum wage isn’t necessary for the federal government to enforce the Canadian Labour Code across the provinces.

According to Sullivan from the International Emissions Trading Association the federal government has an important role in ensuring the monitoring and reporting of emissions is “consistent and aligned from coast-to-coast.”

Even basic things like “establishing a centralized registry to record and track emissions data and transactions,” is a central role the federal government can play, Sullivan said.

Setting basic rules on who pays, how to track emissions and what kinds of offsets are acceptable would go a long way to bringing the existing provincial systems in line with one another.

It would also provide a foundation for other provinces to build their own systems on.

“It's not that a common model…and guidance across the provinces can't be done without Ottawa's support, but it would be a heck of a lot more efficient and less-costly to governments and business if Ottawa could step-in to provide this support and common infrastructure at the federal level,” Sullivan told DeSmog Canada.

Federal Leadership Needed

Policy analysts across the board agree carbon pricing on its own cannot solve Canada’s soaring GHG emissions problem. Yet it’s still a step in the right direction and likely won’t be done without strong leadership.

“It takes leadership, courage and vision to stand up and deliver a carbon pricing policy,” Merran Smith, executive director of Clean Energy Canada, said.

Clean Energy Canada, an energy think tank, recently took an in-depth look at the implementation of B.C.’s carbon tax and Quebec’s cap and trade program. They found the climate leadership of the premiers at the time — Gordon Campbell in B.C. and Jean Charest in Quebec — was “one of the key requirements to getting a carbon price in place,” Smith told DeSmog Canada.

“Those leaders also told us that putting in place a price on carbon was the (or one of the) thing they were most proud in their careers — which will hopefully encourage others to step forward,” she said.

The federal government also has an important role to play in implementing long-overdue oil and gas sector regulations, phasing out the use of coal and demanding greater efficiency in the transport sector — all of which nicely align with carbon pricing.

Beyond that, as a recent report from Clean Energy Canada demonstrated, Canada could do much, much more to support the clean energy sector.

Matt Horne, associate B.C. director at the Pembina Institute, said the federal government could simply begin by changing the conversation around carbon pricing.

“The first and easiest step the federal government could take is offer a more constructive voice on the issue, instead of regularly talking about a ‘job killing carbon tax.’”

“Talk about B.C.’s successful experiment or Quebec’s experiment — any of that will help facilitate a conversation in the country that is way more productive and way more constructive than what they have done to date which has been to attack and demonize carbon pricing approaches,” he said.

Image Credit: Clean Energy Canada

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