.ChantalHbert: Pierre Poilievre and Doug Ford are shrugging off climate change. Voters might be OK with that via torontostar
MONTREAL — Against the background of the Ukraine invasion and a domestic cost-of-living crisis in the making, is climate change at risk of falling off the Canadian political radar?On paper, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is committed to achieving measurable progress on reducing Canada’s carbon footprint over the course of his third and possibly final term.
Based on the series of reports the federal environment watchdog released a few days ago, it would take no less than a massive all-hands-on-deck national effort to achieve the objectives the Trudeau government has set for the country.Take the ongoing federal Conservative leadership campaign. A year ago, almost to the day, then-federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole crossed a Rubicon of sorts by presenting a climate plan that put a price on carbon for consumers.
For the many provincial governments that hail from the conservative side of the spectrum, such an approach would likely be welcome. What the incumbents in Ontario and Quebec have in common in the lead-up to their respective re-election campaigns is a determination to treat any climate change measure that could take a bite out of voters’ pocketbooks as a non-starter. So far, the polls suggest that could be a winning strategy.