West Coast reacts to Canada’s strengthened federal climate plan

VANCOUVER, BC, Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Territories - Lawyers at West Coast Environmental Law made the following statements in response to the federal government’s newly-released climate plan, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy

Staff Lawyer Andrew Gage said: 

“We are celebrating that Canada finally has a plan to meet or beat its 2030 target and that it includes ambitious and necessary measures to get there. This is an important first step in the government’s pledge to develop a science-based 2030 target.” 

“Canada’s current, weak target was originally set by a previous government and does not represent Canada’s fair share in addressing climate change.” 

“We are also glad to see that the plan recommits the government to create and fund the expert committee recently proposed in Bill C-12, the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. That Bill must also be strengthened to ensure that governments listen to and act on the advice of experts, and Canada must ratchet up the 2030 target and plan to align with what science says we must do this decade.”

Staff Lawyer Eugene Kung added:

“While we applaud much of this climate plan, the government continues to ignore the reality that climate leaders don’t build oil pipelines. The recent analysis released by Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer confirms that the Trans Mountain pipeline will lose money if any climate action is taken, let alone the action promised in this plan. If Canada is serious about acting on climate change, the government must cancel this ill-conceived project once and for all.”

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For more information, please contact: 

Andrew Gage | Staff Lawyer
250-412-9784, agage@wcel.org 

Eugene Kung | Staff Lawyer
604-601-2514, ekung@wcel.org