Canada's NDP

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August 1st, 2019

Reality Check: Liberals’ Record Leaves Northerners Feeling the Heat

Justin Trudeau is headed to Canada’s far north to tout his climate record, but the Liberal record on climate and northern issues is leaving northerners and the Arctic at risk. His announcement today comes on the heels of a track record of failure:

  • Canada is only on track to meet our 2030 Paris targets in 200 years. A rare collaborative report from Canada’s Auditors General found that current federal measures are far from enough to close our emissions gap.
  • The Climate Change and Atmospheric Research program was eliminated by the Liberals in 2017, and once legacy money from that program runs out at the end of September, the world-leading Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory will be forced to close.
  • A 2019 report found that nearly half of families in Nunavut were hungry and food insecure in 2016 – and small Liberal tweaks to the Nutrition North program won’t solve that.
  • Liberal inaction on Inuit housing and the national mould crisis in Indigenous communities is leaving thousands of families in unsafe homes.
“Weak climate targets we won’t meet for 200 years, a shuttered climate change research program and families who are already food insecure and often living in unsafe homes: Justin Trudeau shouldn’t be proud of his record on Canada’s North,” said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. “He’ll go pose for photos and hug northerners, but when he gets back to Ottawa and behind closed doors, Trudeau is working for the big polluters and corporations that take advantage of Iqaluit families.” On the climate, New Democrats’ New Deal for Climate Action and Good Jobs, is the only plan to promise dramatically reduced carbon emissions while creating 300,000 good jobs. Reconciliation is at the heart of the New Deal for People, and New Democrats will make the investments it takes to solve food insecurity and get families the safe, affordable housing they deserve.