海角社区官网

The Conservative does not mention Canada’s emissions targets for 2030 and 2035, while the Liberal is silent on how the party’s proposals would meet those targets without the expected emissions reductions of the consumer carbon price.听

During the Liberal leadership race this year, Carney鈥檚 campaign told the Star he planned to 鈥渆xceed鈥� Canada鈥檚 current emissions targets to reduce greenhouse gas output to 40 per cent below 2005 levels in 2030, and 45 per cent below by 2035.

“They haven’t shown how they will hit our targets at all,” said Caroline Brouillette, executive director听of Climate Action Network Canada.听

“The fact that (no) party has put forward a climate plan with modelling that shows how policies get us to their proposed target is deplorable, worrying, and a clear regression from the last election.”听

That was a reference to the 2021 federal election, when all parties campaigned on national carbon pricing.听Though no party published modelling to show how each policy would impact emissions then either,听leaders debated over which party had the best plan to fight climate change, with the Liberals pledging new measures like a regulatory cap on growing greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuel production. Under then-leader Erin O’Toole, the Conservatives听had their climate plan assessed by an independent consultant to show how it gave Canada a credible chance to hit the targets that were in place at the time.

This time around, the election campaign that ends on April 28 has been dominated by economic and affordability concerns and debate over how to confront U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and annexation threats.

Earlier this month, former Liberal environment minister Steven Guilbeault听鈥� now Canadian culture minister and running for re-election in Montreal听鈥� told the Star he didn’t expect all details of what Liberal Leader Mark Carney envisions for climate policy to come out during the campaign.听

“An election campaign is usually not the moment we have detailed policy discussions about issues,” Guilbeault said. “We tend to be a bit broader.”听

On Friday, Carney was in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., where he visited the city鈥檚 Algoma Steel plant that is struggling after Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on their products, prompting Canadian retaliation on steel imports from the United States.

During the campaign, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has criticized Carney for promising to maintain the Liberal government鈥檚 industrial carbon price, arguing it hampers sectors like steel production and should be scrapped alongside the consumer tax-and-rebate scheme created under prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Carney defended the policy on Friday, noting that Algoma鈥檚 plant in Sault Ste. Marie was using proceeds from the industrial carbon price to replace its coal-fired blast furnace with a new generation of technology that runs on electricity. (Laura Devoni, Algoma’s director of corporate affairs, later told reporters the company would prefer to pay lower taxes, but that the company is committed to advancing the project that would remove 3 million tons of emissions per year, equivalent to shutting down an entire coal-fired power plant.)

According to the , industrial carbon pricing is estimated to contribute to between 20 and 48听per cent of the country鈥檚 emissions reductions by 2030, the most significant contribution by a single policy included in its study. Consumer carbon pricing, meanwhile, was expected to cut eight to 14 per cent听of national emissions by 2030.听

The federal finance department estimates the consumer price would have been responsible for about six per cent of national emissions reductions between 2025 and 2030.

When Carney announced earlier this year that he would eliminate national consumer carbon pricing, he promised to introduce a system that would see heavy emitting industries pay people to adopt green technologies like heat pumps and electric cars.

Asked Friday how this system would replace the lost emissions reductions from ditching the consumer carbon price, Carney听did not spell out any level of projected emissions reductions. But he explained that his plan for green incentives would allow companies subject to industrial carbon pricing to comply with the system by paying for consumer technologies, which he said would reduce costs for firms under the industrial pricing system by giving them more options.听

Guilbeault, in his recent interview with the Star, added that he expects another Liberal government would make industrial pricing more stringent and strengthen regulations to force fossil fuel companies to lower methane emissions more drastically over the next five years.听

Earlier this month, Policy Options published an听听that concluded Liberal climate policies would reduce emissions over the next 10 years, though not enough to hit Canada鈥檚 2035 target. Under the Conservative plan, emissions would likely go up, the analysis concluded.

The Liberal party platform also says a Carney government would develop a new tariff on imports like steel from jurisdictions with weaker climate laws, so Canadian companies subject to them here aren’t disadvantaged. Other climate policies include fast-tracking clean energy projects; extend the existing tax credit for companies spending on carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) technology to 2035; and raise money by selling $10 billion per year in government “transition bonds” to help industries and farmers cut emissions.听

The Conservatives, meanwhile, pledge to remove the industrial carbon price, along with a suite of climate regulations like the oil-and-gas emissions cap, the sales mandate for zero-emission vehicles, and incoming regulations for clean electricity. Poilievre argues this will boost the economy and rake in tens of billions of dollars in new tax revenue. The party also wants to build more fossil fuel pipelines and export terminals, which the Conservatives say can help reduce global emissions by replacing dirtier fuels like coal in other countries.听

The Tories’ platform says they would also reform tax credits for clean manufacturing, and speed up approvals of clean energy projects.听

Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats boost public transit funding, extend rebates for the purchase of electric vehicles, maintain industrial carbon pricing, and increase the current target to 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035.听

None of the parties, however, has released details to show how their policies will achieve national emissions reductions.听

To Brouillette, that leaves too many questions about real progress on a pressing global issue. The government’s most recent tally of national emissions says they were down 8.5 per cent from 2005 levels in 2023, while a series of reports from leading climate scientists warn time is running out to dramatically reduce global emissions and avoid the worst extremes of climate change.听

“In 2025, meeting Canada’s climate goals shouldn’t be left to wishful thinking,” Brouillette said.听