Can Canada claim climate leadership? Can the Paris Accord succeed in avoiding the worst of the climate crisis?

What role can Canada play to advance global climate goals, especially in 2018 as chair of the G7? As politics and governments change, Canada and the US have changed places, relatively speaking, on climate change. In Canada, global climate saboteur, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has been replaced by self-avowed climate champion, current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; in the US, Barack Obama has been replaced by Donald Trump. As A.A. Milne wrote of Two Bad Bears, "All of a sudden, just like us, one got better and the other gut wus."

Despite the fact that Canada's total emissions are only 2% of the global total, as saboteur, Canada was more effective than the US has been under Trump. Prime Minister Trudeau has made less of an impact on Canada's domestic policies than one would imagine. Canada has not changed our NDC (nationally determined contribution), our target filed with the UNFCCC. It remains the same as under the Conservatives. Where does this leave the Paris Accord and our global pact to ensure emissions are cut such that global average temperature does not exceed 1.5 degrees C above what they were before the Industrial Revolution?"

Speaker: Elizabeth May, OC, Member of Parliament

Registration required at website