Canada’s move to a low-carbon economy will be ‘a big adjustment for many industries,’ Trudeau tells mining conference – The Globe and Mail

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada’s move to a low-carbon economy will be “a big adjustment for many industries” and is asking business and Indigenous leaders for advice as the government crafts its plan for achieving its 2030 and 2050 emissions targets.

The Prime Minister delivered his speech Monday to a mining conference in Toronto only three days after the House of Commons finance committee called for action on sustainable finance as a key pre-budget recommendation.

The committee called on the government to act on recommendations from last year’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance, led by former deputy Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, which said the financial sector can help accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy. The panel urged the federal government to establish that the fiduciary duty of money managers to their clients includes a review of climate-change risks. It also called for climate-change factors to be incorporated into the regulation of Canada’s financial system.

Mr. Trudeau’s speech Monday addressed the broad theme of an economy in transition, pointing to the fact that Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock Inc., announced this year that the firm will be placing climate change as a key factor in its investment decisions.

“Larry acknowledged that climate change is fundamentally reshaping finance, just as it is causing companies, sectors and entire countries to reassess their core assumptions about what tomorrow holds,” Mr. Trudeau said.

“Our government recognizes that moving towards a low-carbon economy is a big adjustment for many industries, including yours. This transformation won’t happen overnight. It will take some time, but our government is firmly committed to supporting your industry during this period of change.”

During the federal election, the Liberals promised to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The plan included striking an expert panel to advise on how to get there, legislating interim five-year emissions targets and surpassing Canada’s 2030 emission-reduction targets.

At the time, though, the Liberals acknowledged they didn’t have the full plan for how they would get there, saying they first needed to win the election. More than four months after their re-election they are just starting to decide on the consultation framework that will lead to an updated climate plan.

Mr. Trudeau said Monday that the government will be seeking input “in the coming year” on how Canada should adopt a clean transition.

Business and environmental groups alike have taken issue with the slow pace the Prime Minister has set for overhauling his government’s climate-change plans, but Mr. Trudeau’s speech did not indicate a desire to move any faster.

In an open letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Monday, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce again called on Ottawa to act urgently and said the government should use the coming budget to outline a balance between climate policy and economic development.

Teck Resources Ltd. put a spotlight on the lack of a plan last week when it pulled its proposed Frontier oil sands mine, citing a lack of clarity from Ottawa on how resource development will fit into the country’s climate change plan. A recent wave of protests in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose a pipeline through their traditional territory in northern B.C. has also highlighted tensions between resource development and unresolved Indigenous land claims.

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson recently acknowledged the mounting pressure on his government to provide more information on climate policy so businesses can adequately plan and adjust. But he said the consultations for the new climate plan will only start by the summer and likely continue into next year.

Last week the Business Council of Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce both said those consultations should start sooner.

Ryan Riordan, director of research at Queen’s University’s Institute for Sustainable Finance, said he found Mr. Trudeau’s comments “heartening” and said the government should act on sustainable finance, including requiring companies to disclose how they are addressing climate change.

Prof. Riordan acknowledged that while there is political debate about how to proceed, corporate leaders are generally supportive of clear environmental rules.

“I think the best way to address that is to listen to the actual people that are running large energy firms in Canada,” he said. “And for the most part, the CEOs of the large Canadian energy firms are saying we need to have a robust environmental policy.”

Some specific environmental measures are expected to be announced in the 2020 federal budget, which the Finance Minister has said will focus on climate change.

The finance committee’s pre-budget recommendations hint at Liberal priorities. In addition to action on sustainable finance, the report calls for increased spending on rapid charging stations for electric vehicles. It also restates the Liberal Party’s campaign pledge to bring in a rebate for the purchase of a used electric vehicle, which suggests that the pledge could be altered so that the benefit is more generous for low-income Canadians. There are also calls for more spending to resolve Indigenous land claims.

The report made 92 recommendations in total. They include calls for a national pharmacare program, an expert review of Canada’s tax system and a fiscal plan focused on reducing the federal debt as a percentage of the economy. The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois issued dissenting reports, while the NDP published a “supplementary” opinion, calling on the government’s actions to match its words.

Liberal MP and finance committee member Julie Dzerowicz said she views the call for action on sustainable finance as the most important of the pre-budget recommendations.

“I think we’re very serious as a government in terms of moving to net zero by 2050 and achieving our Paris accord targets,” she said.

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