Canada's NDP

Skip to main content

April 22nd, 2017

NDP Statement on Earth Day

NDP Environment and Climate Change critic, Linda Duncan (Edmonton Strathcona), made the following statement:

"On Earth Day, Canadians will be joining people worldwide in calling for action to preserve our planet.

For Canada to do its fair share in the fight against climate change and many other threats to our environment, we need urgent and ambitious leadership from our federal government.

Despite committing to deep reductions under the Paris Climate Agreement, the Prime Minister continues to stick with Stephen Harper’s climate change targets as our national benchmark – reductions that do not meet our international commitment to reduce greenhouse gases. He has yet to produce a complete plan or accountable timeline to meet even these low thresholds. Environment Canada has projected that Canada is set to miss its reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, exceeding it by at least 30 per cent.

At the same time, Liberals have failed to deliver on their election promise to restore the federal environmental laws eviscerated by Stephen Harper. Those include promises to strengthen our environmental assessment process, the Fisheries Act and the Navigable Waters Protection Act. The rights for Indigenous peoples and local communities to have a voice in decisions that impact their health and environment must be restored.

The Government has also announced delays in implementing key promises. They will delay methane emission control regulations by an additional three years – rules that simply play catch up with U.S. regulations. Their budget delays, by several years, help for indigenous and northern communities to transition from diesel and $1.2 billion to support efforts by the provinces under the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. Despite its popularity, the eco-energy retrofit program has not been restored.

New Democrats will continue to call on the Liberal government to follow through on their climate change commitments. Our message is clear: we need ambitious targets, credible measures to deliver them, and transparency in reporting.

Climate change won’t wait. We are already suffering the effects. It’s time for action.

In addition to action on climate change, we also need deeper investments in protecting our precious water ways and threatened species.

The greatest legacy we can offer future generations is a clean and healthy planet – let's work together to make that happen."