Canada’s Reluctance to Fight Climate Change
Introduction
Despite its well-known Economic Action Plan and its continued emphasis on the need for more jobs and growth, it is still quite disturbing that the Canadian government gave a cold shoulder to environmental concerns in its 2014 budget. However, what has become clear in the last few years is that Canada is not committed to fighting climate change. In truth, it is not Canada that is uncommitted to the climate change cause. It is its Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, who is blocking all efforts to put Canada at the forefront of climate change efforts . And Canada should be leading climate change initiatives because it is one of the largest emitters in the world, and it is also a rich
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For example, Harper has consistently failed to meet Kyoto Protocol agreements which it signed with the United States and China and promised to fulfill. In addition, in the 2014 budget, the allocation for climate science reduced by a significant percentage. The problem, according to government sources and climate change researchers, is oil. Canada has huge oil reserves, which it intends to exploit to the maximum without caring what any climate change policy, deal or supporter says.
The Harper government’s energy policy focuses on using the country’s oil potential to drive its economic growth. To be fair, the policy is working and has been working for the last couple of years, especially after Harper assumed power. Canada’s growth in the last ten years has been remarkable, and most – if not all – of this growth rides on the back of oil sands exploitation and oil exploration activities. Harper’s stance is that provided there is oil, Canada will extract it from whatever source, process it and sell it. The revenue will drive Canada’s growth . There is no other way to it, and he will not pay attention to “detractors.” The policy has put Canada at loggerheads with the United States and China, but each time the Prime Minister responds by burying his head and those of his people deeper in the (oil) sand. The oil sands in Alberta have probably the largest economic potential out of any
Though the problem of environmental damage is a global one, there is nothing stopping Canadians from solving it in their own
The Athabasca Delta is a breeding ground for species of birds, which was destroyed to clear the land for oil development. These development practices are a leading factor towards increases in pollution. A scientific panel stated on Tuesday that pollution must be corrected, as there are major debates against the oil sands development. Proponents argue that business through the Oil Sands has made Canada a major player in foreign supplement. Unemployment rates have decreased across Canada and companies generate huge profits. The Alberta Oil Sands provide Canada with a secure source of energy. Throughout the world, Canadian oil reserves are the second largest in the world. Oil mining operations in Canada also help create more trading partnerships with different countries. This is a great way Canada can strengthen relationships and ties with various nation-states. The Oil Sands is a stabilizing force for Canada’s economy, yet it has a tremendous effect on the environment. Corporations are held responsible for their actions, and environmental protection should be their main concern. The procedures that the Oil Sands has taken are not effective, to an extent, where the pace of investment and development in the oil sands
The most important thing to know about the DND’s Environment Department is that it lacks funding because, when it comes to the Canadian Government, it is not of main concern. The Canadian Government is focused too much on short term issues and not focused enough on long term issues such as
Dr James Hansen’s argumentative essay, “A Solution to the Climate Problem,” discusses his premise that it is imperative for humankind to deal with carbon dioxide emissions, which he believes needs to be phased out by the mid-21st century. He begins with the current paradigm in government efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and claims that so far it has been a lot of talk and action in the other direction. Dr Hansen argues that while governments pay lip service to agreements such as the Kyoto Accord, they are going full steam ahead with projects that will result in increased carbon dioxide emissions, such as going forth with coal-fired power plants, coal-to-liquids, hydraulic fracturing, and tar sands oil extraction. Dr Hansen believes
Today corporate profitability outweighs any environmental consequences and certainly takes precedence over implications to future generations. Canadas situation can be accurately surmised in a quote from Alanis Obomsawin, an Abenaki from the Odanak reserve, located northeast of Montreal and is quoted as saying:
If there were criteria for an appalling prime minister, that would include insensitivity towards our environment and coldness towards growing social issues, and Stephen Harper proves to fit this perfectly. This essay will be focusing on his disregard for our environmental issues, cold bloodedness towards the Canadian LGBTQ+ community, and his blatant racism. Stephen Harper was an abhorrent prime minister, his ideas were medieval and he was weak in his ways of taking care of our social and environmental needs. To begin, Stephen Harper cared very little for Canada’s environmental needs. He has silenced Canadian scientists[1] who studied man-made climate change, climate change that gave us the hottest year on record in a century in 2015[2].
The reason I chose this issue is because throughout this course, I’ve been very passionate about climate change and I really wanted my last project to take the same focus as well. Additionally, there are many reasonable policies like carbon taxes, which will truly help Canada become more environmentally sustainable. However, many citizens are still not convinced about the urgency of climate change and I’d like to change their minds.
Diverse and multi-faceted, the Canadian business market is one of the strongest functioning mixed market economies in the world. Within the Canadian economy, the oil and gas sector stands as one of the largest and most influential sectors. The oil and gas industry is unique as it affects almost every person and sector of the economy worldwide, whether it is through commodity or material input costs. In Canada, this growing industry could allow for the country to be the one of the “biggest energy producers in the world” leading to a massive paradigm shift globally.
Canada ranks among the leading energy producers in the world, through oil production. These oil deposits rank oil sands of Canada as the largest oil deposits in the world after the Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The only challenge with the oil sand deposits is that oil deposits are seen as unconventional. In effect, tar sands are recognized as one of the dirtiest energy sources in the world (Bailey & Droitsch, 2015). This fact is founded on the production factor; in producing one barrel of tar sands oil, the hazardous emissions are three to five times that of producing the equivalent of conventional oil. The Alberta oil sands are viewed as the single largest economic project in human history. The Canadian government and oil
The government responsible to take charge for this issue are global, federal and provincial. As a planet, we must coalesce with each other to find solutions to preserving the planet. World leaders are meeting with each other, discussing ways to fix the damages humans created. The government of Canada is dedicated on working with leaders all over the world to make changes that will help resolve the effects of climate change. Also, Canada is committed to supporting and helping out third world countries who need help in accommodating to the effects of climate change. Investments are being made to reduce emissions as well. The government of Canada and its provinces and territories are uniting together to encounter the effects of climate change. They aim on federal funding, the flexibility to design their own carbon pricing policies on putting a price on carbon and reducing carbon pollution.
We once lived in a world lush and plentiful where we enjoyed all the natural resources peacefully. However at the beginning of the industrial revolution more people moved to the cities therefore increasing their dependency load. Fastforward to today and the world has seen a drastic change in the loss of natural resources as well as a number of health related illnesses like asthma. This is mainly due to the effects from carbon pollution, greenhouse gases and global warming. Canada as a country is thought of as environmentally aware and progressive. Actually has many issues regarding this topic and if it is not taken care of it will affect the future of the nation. I care about this topic because it has to
The following paper will provide an overview of Canada’s current climate change policy, under the Trudeau administration. Then, an overview of the climate change policy for the Trump administration will be introduced. Finally, Canada’s options in the face of these circumstances will be introduced, along with the decision that should be made for Canada’s future policy on climate change.
In recent years, Canada’s lack of climate action at the federal level has damaged our international reputation. With the UN climate talks in Paris, Canada has an opportunity to step up and take meaningful climate action and be viewed as a climate leader on the
Canada has the potential to be a “sustainable energy superpower” due to the vast amount of resources it contains. It has a large landmass and diversified geography which can be used to produce renewable energy from such resources; watermill, wind, biomass, solar, geothermal, and ocean energy. Renewable energy is energy obtained from natural resources that are able to be naturally replenished within a human lifespan (Natural Resource Canada, 2014). Currently, fossil fuel burning is the major source of energy in Canada and although it can be re-used, the process is so long that it is considered to be non-renewable. Also, fossil fuel burning for coal, natural gas, and petroleum gas pollutes the environment with greenhouse gases on a large scale, causing global warming. Non-renewable energy is taken from sources that re available on Earth in limited quantity, likely vanishing within fifty to sixty years from today (Conserve Energy Future, 2014). Thus, it is important for Canada to invest their money on resorting to more environmentally friendly and renewable ways to make electricity. Being a developed country, Canada has the financial stability to purchase the technologies over time in order to produce renewable energy. In addition, many organizations and the government have taken a step to educate the society about issues regarding energy usage, and to create programs which conserve energy for the future. In the future generations, Canada will be able to generate sufficient
A sensible plan of creating new advances innovation to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, which they did with acid rain. “ Canada ought to accomplish more, as we are quite a small part of the global issue,” said Brian Mulroney.