Liberal-NDP pact ‘more incrementalism,’ says Green Party interim leader, with federal climate plan on horizon

The spirit of collaboration the new Liberal-NDP deal brings to politics is encouraging, but aside from the pledge to provide dental care to low-income Canadians, it lacks ambition and won’t bring about the “transformational change we need,” said Green Party interim leader Amita Kuttner.

The agreement is set to last until 2025, and in exchange for the NDP’s pledge not to bring down the minority government, the Liberals agreed to work together on shared priorities like dental care, pharmacare and climate action.

However, the climate portion of the agreement doesn’t set hard deadlines and lacks “serious emissions targets and real action to meet our commitments under the Paris Agreement,” Kuttner said in a statement.

“This agreement could have set the course for a post-pandemic transformation to a greener and more just society,” said Kuttner. “Instead we get more incrementalism … This is very disappointing.”

The agreement includes no new climate commitments beyond what the Liberals have already promised, but this could be due to the complicated nature of the climate file, James Meadowcroft, professor of political science and public policy and administration at Carleton University, told Canada’s National Observer.

He predicts a lot of the details lacking in the Liberal-NDP pact will be in the government’s emissions reduction plan, coming at the end of the month.

“I am cautiously optimistic that in the climate plan, there will be more detail than there has been in the past,” said Meadowcroft.

The emissions reduction plan will likely inform the contents of the federal budget, which will be tabled on April 16, because any climate goals with a 2030 deadline will require dedicated funds starting immediately, he added.

Next week, Meadowcroft hopes to see specific proposals to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, with measures such as a zero-emission vehicle mandate and subsidies for consumers. According to Natural Resources Canada, the transportation sector is responsible for 27 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, and light-duty vehicles like cars, vans and smaller pickups are responsible for almost half that total.

“If you push that electric vehicle transition, you've dealt with more than 10 per cent of the country's emissions just like that,” he said.

Whether the emissions reduction plan contains critical details and deadlines remains to be seen, but overall, the Liberal-NDP pact should help ensure climate policies are implemented in a timely manner, said Meadowcroft.

“One of the things that's distinguished Canadian policy at the federal and provincial levels for 25 years (is) it's been quite volatile,” he said. “One government brings in some policies, then another government comes in and undoes them and does something else. So, just having that period of stability with a government that is committed to taking action on climate change will be a relatively good thing.”

However, because the NDP signed off on the government’s climate initiatives in the agreement without getting anything extra, it is possible the party has weakened its ability to “credibly push for more,” Kathryn Harrison, a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia, told Canada’s National Observer.

But this isn’t the only possibility.

“In a way, they might have more ability to influence the results from behind the scenes, rather than just kind of public grandstanding,” Éric Grenier, poll analyst and publisher of The Writ podcast and newsletter, told Canada’s National Observer. “In a way, it's easier for government to say, ‘OK, we'll do this,’ than to publicly be goaded into doing it.”

If the Liberal-NDP pact actually holds out until 2025, it will also make it hard for a Conservative government, if elected, to reverse measures like the carbon tax, he said.

However, at this point, there’s no telling how long the agreement will last, added Grenier.

Natasha Bulowski / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer