“We’ve heard big talk from this party before” and other things experts say about Trudeau’s climate failure

Jagmeet's climate plan sets an emissions reduction target of 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Justin Trudeau's self-described “ambitious” plan sets a 40% target - less ambitious than Joe Biden’s. And in six years, Trudeau has missed every target he’s set.

Here’s what experts are saying about Trudeau on climate:

“The big elephant in the room of the climate plan has always been the lack of a plan for oil and gas emissions. [The Liberal plan] feels more like it's gilding the lily of their existing plan, as opposed to actually reacting or responding to the scale of the crisis.” - Cam Fenton, 350.org

“The Biden Administration’s announcement that the United States will reduce its carbon emissions by more than 50% by 2030, joined by a host of major economies during the Climate Leaders’ Summit, demonstrates that Canada needs to reconsider its assumptions around its oil and gas sector and advance a stronger target.” -Anthony Swift, Director, Canada Project, NRDC.

“While it’s really good to see the Liberals name that elephant in the Canadian climate policy room, how that’s implemented and the details about how these caps are defined, through which mechanism they’re regulated, will be really important. Because we’ve heard big talk from this party before.” - Caroline Brouillette, Domestic Policy Manager, Climate Action Network

“Based on the Government of Canada’s anticipated expansion of oil and gas extraction—more oil and gas is expected to be produced in 2050 than in 2019—the oil and gas sector in Canada will still be emitting some 200 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2050, the year by which the federal government has committed to achieve net-zero emissions.” - Truzaar Dordi and Angela Carter, Associate Professor at University of Waterloo

“Canada needs to sharply ramp up its climate action. Our country is now officially a climate laggard. We have the weakest 2030 carbon reduction target of G7 countries, the lowest level of financial assistance in the G7 for developing countries to address climate impacts, and second in the G20 in fossil fuel subsidies. Setting low goals means getting weak action.” - Dale Marshall, National Climate Program Manager, Environmental Defence

"After more than five years in office, the Trudeau government is still incapable of proposing a target as ambitious as that of Joe Biden." - Keith Stewart, Senior Energy Strategist, Greenpeace Canada