OTTAWA — Canada has had at least 11 different climate plans and nine emissions targets since 1988. Here’s a snapshot of some of them.
1988: Canada hosts a conference in Toronto called Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security, where governments and NGOs agree that human behaviour is affecting the atmosphere. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney gives the opening address, and by the end of the event, parties agree to strive to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1988 levels by 2005.
1990: The Mulroney government releases the Green Plan, which includes $175 million for about two dozen new policies on greenhouse gas emissions, including investments in energy efficiency, alternative energy and tree planting. It sets a goal to “stabilize” emissions at 1990 levels by 2000.
1992: Canada signs the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Rio de Janeiro, which sets up the next three decades of global conferences to address greenhouse gas emissions.
1993: In the federal election, Liberal Leader Jean Chrétien promises to cut emissions to 80 percent of what they were in 1988 by 2005, the same target Mulroney agreed to in 1988.
1995: Chretien’s government introduces the National Action Program on Climate Change, promising to cut 66 million tonnes of emissions from current levels in 15 years. The plan includes more than 400 possible projects or programs, such as retrofitting federal buildings, updating the national building code to identify thermal efficiencies and convincing industry to voluntarily submit climate plans.
1997: Canada agrees to the Kyoto Protocol, an extension of the UN climate framework. It sets a new target to cut emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
1998: The federal government introduces its new Action Plan 2000 on Climate Change to work toward its Kyoto target, with a $500-million investment over five years. It includes goals to improve vehicle fuel efficiency, investments in renewable energy and a promise to look further at using carbon capture and storage technology in the oil and gas sector.
2002: Climate Change Plan for Canada, another pathway toward the Kyoto target, talks about emissions credits trading, increased use of ethanol and biodiesel, investments in public transit and aiming to retrofit one-fifth of commercial and institutional buildings by 2010.
2005: Project Green: A Plan for Honouring our Kyoto Commitment followed the 2005 federal budget, which included more than $3 billion in climate investments, including funds to encourage wind power and other renewable energy options and tax incentives for efficient energy generation. The latest plan encourages the development of a domestic emissions credit trading system, and promises to regulate emissions from certain industries.
2007: Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a year after saying Canada wouldn’t be able to meet the Kyoto target, sets a new goal to cut emissions to 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020. It’s the first to base its action mostly on cutting emissions intensity — the amount of greenhouse gas produced per unit of production, such as per barrel of oil, or tonne of steel.
2009: Canada signs the Copenhagen Accord, a new global climate plan under which Canada promises to cut emissions 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
2011: Canada formally withdraws from the Kyoto Protocol.
2015: Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq submits a new national emissions target ahead of a major UN climate conference in Paris. The new target, 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, comes with promises to cut methane emissions in the oil and gas sector, and regulations for natural gas power plants and fertilizer production.
In November, just weeks after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals win the election and take office, Canada signs the Paris agreement at that UN conference, using the same Conservative targets.
2016: Trudeau surprises and angers some premiers with a sudden plan to impose a minimum price on pollution on provinces without their own similar plan. Shortly after, most provinces sign on the Pan-Canadian Framework for Clean Growth and Climate Change, which shows a path of policies to get Canada much of the way to the Paris target. They include the carbon price, as well as better building codes, eliminating coal power and a clean fuel standard to reduce emissions generated by burning fuels.
2020: Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson introduces a “strengthened” climate plan aiming to introduce more measures to try and meet the original 2030 target and start working toward net-zero emissions by 2050. A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy promises to keep increasing the carbon price until it reaches $170 a tonne in 2030, and to invest in clean technology and a national clean electricity grid.
2021: Canada submits updated emissions targets to the UN, now aiming for 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. It also passes the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, which enshrines the targets into law for the first time, and requires regular reporting and reviews of progress.
2022: Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault introduces the Emissions Reduction Plan, showing the path to getting to the new 2030 targets.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2022.
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government says it is taking steps to ensure tree fruit growers are compensated for past harvests after the closure of a co-operative that had served farmers for almost 90 years.
It says the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC is “redirecting” about $4 million in provincial funding that will be used to ensure co-op members receive money they are owed.
The province says the foundation will pay growers in the coming weeks and then recoup the funds at the end of the court process involving the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative that filed for creditor protection last month.
In July, the co-op, which processed, stored, packaged and sold fruit for 230 member farms, announced it was shutting down after 88 years of operation.
It says it has more than $58 million in liabilities.
The agriculture ministry says it is has also provided $100,000 to the BC Fruit Growers Association that will go toward food-safety certification that was previously done by the co-op.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Jesse Marsch issued Canada’s men’s soccer squad a challenge — get physical.
The edict came after the Canadians surprised many at this summer’s Copa America tournament, making it through to the semifinals. As his players departed for their professional clubs, the head coach wanted them thinking about continued growth.
“I challenged them to be more physically present in the matches that they played in,” Marsch said. “I’ve tried to encourage all the players to sprint more, to win more duels, to win more balls, to be more dynamic in matches.”
When Canada reconvened for a pair of friendlies last week, the coach saw some players had already heeded his call, including Vancouver Whitecaps product Ali Ahmed.
The 23-year-old midfielder started in both Canada’s 2-1 victory over the United States on Saturday and Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Mexico.
“I’m really happy for him,” Marsch said. “I think he’s still young and still has a lot of room and potential to continue to grow.”
Playing under Marsch — who took over as head coach in May — has been a boon for the young athlete, currently in his second full season with Major League Soccer’s Whitecaps.
“Jesse has a very clear way of playing,” Ahmed said. “And I think the way we’ve been training and the way we’ve been growing as a group, it’s been helpful for me.”
The reward of getting minutes for a national team can spur a player’s growth, including Ahmed, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini.
“Of course that fuels him inside to say ‘Hey, I want to be a better player. I want to get to that stage,'” said Sartini.
Vancouver had six players — including Ahmed — away on international duty during its 0-0 draw against Dallas FC on Saturday. The absences are a good problem to have, Sartini said.
“Because we have players that are close to the national team, we have a lot of players that development is faster, better, bigger than it would have been if they hadn’t been called,” he said.
Born in Toronto, Ahmed came up through the Whitecaps’ academy system and played for Vancouver’s MLS Next Pro side before cementing his spot on the first team in 2023. He put up two goals and two assists across 22 regular-season games, and added another goal and another helper in 19 appearances this year.
Taking the next step will require the five-foot-11, 154-pound Ahmed to push himself physically, Marsch said.
“Tactically, he’s technically gifted,” the coach said. “I’ve told him he’s got to get in the gym more.
“There’s a lot of these little things where too many guys, they still look like kids and we need to help them look like men and play like men. And that’s what the high standards of the game are about.”
Marsch has quickly adjusted to recalibrating standards in his short time with Team Canada. Since taking over the squad in May, the coach said he’s learned the players are smarter and more capable than he originally thought, which forces the coach to constantly recalibrate his standards.
“That’s my job right now, to keep raising the level of the demands,” he said.
The way 40th-ranked Canada is viewed on the international stage is evolving, too.
“I think we’re changing the perception on the way we’re playing now,” he said. “I think beating the U.S. — it would have been nice to beat Mexico as well — the way we did, the way that we performed at Copa, I think teams are starting to look at us differently.
“Right now, I think we’re focused on ourselves. We’re definitely trying to be the best in CONCACAF and we have higher goals as well.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
An investigator gave the World Anti-Doping Agency a pass on its handling of the inflammatory case involving Chinese swimmers, but not without hammering away at the “curious” nature of WADA’s “silence” after examining Chinese actions that did not follow rules designed to safeguard global sports.
WADA on Thursday released the full decision from Eric Cottier, the Swiss investigator it appointed to analyze its handling of the case involving the 23 Chinese swimmers who remained eligible despite testing positive for performance enhancers in 2021.
In echoing wording from an interim report issued earlier this summer, Cottier said it was “reasonable” that WADA chose not to appeal the Chinese anti-doping agency’s explanation that the positives came from contamination.
“Taking into consideration the particularities of the case, (WADA) appears … to have acted in accordance with the rules it has itself laid out for anti-doping organizations,” Cottier wrote.
But peppered throughout his granular, 56-page analysis of the case was evidence and reminders of how WADA disregarded some of China’s violations of anti-doping protocols. Cottier concluded this happened more for the sake of expediency than to show favoritism toward the Chinese.
“In retrospect at least, the Agency’s silence is curious, in the face of a procedure that does not respect the fundamental rules, and its lack of reaction is surprising,” Cottier wrote of WADA’s lack of fealty to the world anti-doping code.
Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and one of WADA’s fiercest critics, latched onto this dynamic, saying Cottier’s information “clearly shows that China did not follow the rules, and that WADA management did nothing about it.”
One of the chief complaints over the handling of this case was that neither WADA nor the Chinese gave any public notice upon learning of the positive tests for the banned heart medication Temozolomide, known as TMZ.
The athletes also were largely kept in the dark and the burden to prove their innocence was taken up by Chinese authorities, not the athletes themselves, which runs counter to what the rulebook demands.
Despite the criticisms, WADA generally welcomed the report.
“Above all, (Cottier) reiterated that WADA showed no bias towards China and that its decision not to appeal the cases was reasonable based on the evidence,” WADA director general Olivier Niggli said. “There are however certainly lessons to be learned by WADA and others from this situation.”
Tygart said “this report validates our concerns and only raises new questions that must be answered.”
Cottier expanded on doubts WADA’s own chief scientist, Olivier Rabin, had expressed over the Chinese contamination theory — snippets of which were introduced in the interim report. Rabin was wary of the idea that “a few micrograms” of TMZ found in the kitchen at the hotel where the swimmers stayed could be enough to cause the group contamination.
“Since he was not in a position to exclude the scenario of contamination with solid evidence, he saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities,” Cottier wrote.
Though recommendations for changes had been expected in the report, Cottier made none, instead referring to several comments he’d made earlier in the report.
Key among them were his misgivings that a case this big was largely handled in private — a breach of custom, if not the rules themselves — both while China was investigating and after the file had been forwarded to WADA. Not until the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD reported on the positives were any details revealed.
“At the very least, the extraordinary nature of the case (23 swimmers, including top-class athletes, 28 positive tests out of 60 for a banned substance of therapeutic origin, etc.), could have led to coordinated and concerted reflection within the Agency, culminating in a formal and clearly expressed decision to take no action,” the report said.
WADA’s executive committee established a working group to address two more of Cottier’s criticisms — the first involving what he said was essentially WADA’s sloppy recordkeeping and lack of formal protocol, especially in cases this complex; and the second a need to better flesh out rules for complex cases involving group contamination.
