Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pitches Canada as a global climate leader, one that’s adopted increasingly bold climate targets and policies under his watch. But Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions tell an entirely different story.
In the seven years since Trudeau took office, emissions have plateaued while Canada’s economy has grown eight per cent. A cleaner electric grid coexists with even more extraction and burning of oil. But all of Canada’s peers in the Group of Seven, or G7, have managed to achieve economic growth while simultaneously cutting emissions, and Canada’s environmental commissioner says the country is struggling to bend the emissions curve. Among the Group of 20 major economies, or G20, Canada ranks behind only Saudi Arabia when it comes to per capita emissions, and ahead of Australia.
