So
I mean, there's an election coming up,
and it's been really intense.
I mean, there's so many issues that are at the forefront
right now that candidates are talking about.
But I think climate change, it really stands out.
When I go on my
all I'm seeing, my friends and my family members posting
and advocating for people to take this issue more seriously.
I know, Alexia, you went out to the West Coast and you saw
a bunch of fires in B.C.. That's crazy.
Yeah, I was in B.C. during the really intense heat wave
and it was very hot.
And I also drove through the highway after it was reopened
and it was so smoky I could --
It felt like I was outside when I was in my car.
I don't even want to know what it was like outside.
But yeah, it's crazy. This is such an important issue.
♪ [light]
OK, so before we jump in, here are a few quick facts
on where greenhouse gas emissions come from in Canada.
About 50 per cent comes from big industries,
including oil and gas production,
other manufacturing, and electricity generation,
such as coal and gas plants.
And the other 50 per cent come from small sources like
households, farms, small businesses,
personal vehicles, and landfills.
And Canada is one of the top ten
biggest polluting countries in the world.
We've missed every emissions target we've ever set,
no matter which party was in power.
And emissions have only increased since 1992.
Well, good news. There's an election coming up, like I said,
and so I think we should check out
what the candidates are bringing to the table.
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Trudeau:
that we had to go bigger and stronger and more concretely
on fighting climate change, and that's exactly
what we did over these past six years.
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O'Toole:
why climate change is important to me,
not just as a politician.
I talk about climate change with my daughter Molly, who's 15,
and we need to make our emission targets as a country.
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Blanchet:
the Conservatives, and the Liberals,
who have given them even more money to oil and gas
than the Conservatives of Stephen Harper before them.
Should it be on to this fight that we have to
to fight against climate change?
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Singh:
And the other thing we want to do is create good jobs
that help us fight the climate crisis.
We know there's an opportunity here to create thousands
and thousands of jobs that help us reduce emissions.
That's our approach. Take on the big polluters,
and create good jobs that reduce our emissions.
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Paul:
is counting on Canada as a wealthy nation,
as an abundant nation, to do its part
to tackle the climate emergency.
There is a lot to unpack here and it's complicated.
Make sure to keep watching because later on,
we'll evaluate how effective each party's platform is
at fighting climate change.
But first, let's bring in our expert.
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It's very nice to meet you.
It's great to meet both of you.
This is like my favourite interview
of the week, I've got to say.
Aw, that's great to hear.
We keep hearing about targets, right?
All of the parties have different ones.
They keep talking about reducing greenhouse gas emissions
by a certain percentage, below 2005 levels by 2030.
Can you explain what all of this means?
So under the Paris Agreement,
which was negotiated in 2015,
all countries come to the table
with a target to reduce their emissions.
Now they have different base years.
The most ambitious countries, like in Europe,
use 1990 as their base year.
Canada uses 2005 because we messed up from 1990 to 2005,
and so we just don't want to talk about that.
So in Paris, we committed to reduce our emissions
by 30 per cent below that 2005 base year by 2030.
And Canada has announced a new target, which is to
reduce emissions to 40 to 45 per cent below
2005 levels by that same 2030 target year.
OK, now let's look at all of the different parties.
They all use the same time frame of 2005 levels by 2030.
Alexia:
while the Liberals' target is 40 to 45 per cent.
The NDP say 50 per cent, and the Greens say 60.
Let's move on to how they will achieve these goals.
The Liberals introduced a carbon tax a few years ago.
A tax means that the government takes a percentage of what we
spend on things we buy, like electronics and clothes,
and puts it towards things that we all need,
like military and health care.
Now can you explain what the carbon tax is and how it works?
Carbon taxes work by
making more polluting activities more expensive.
So they apply an extra cost to fossil fuels, coal, natural gas.
People do respond to prices.
When you increase the price of gasoline with a carbon tax,
people buy more fuel efficient vehicles.
So we know that it works, but we also know that we need to have
higher prices than we've had previously.
Now, one of the things the Trudeau government did
is they established a consistent national carbon price
across Canada, in every province for both
households and industry, and they established
a schedule to gradually increase that carbon price over time.
And the NDPs and the Greens,
they support this idea of a carbon tax.
But the Conservatives, they kind of want to switch it up
if they were to be elected.
Can you explain this Conservative plan to me?
Because when I first read about it, it was unique
compared to the other plans that I've read about,
Liberals, Greens, and NDP.
It has to do with the personal savings account.
They've got two parts. They've got carbon pricing
for industrial polluters,
and they say that they might match
the Liberals' carbon schedule, carbon price schedule,
but they might not.
So that's an important area of uncertainty for industry.
But for households, what the Conservatives have said is
that instead of the Liberals' carbon tax at the pump,
they will establish carbon savings accounts.
So every time your parents put money in the family car,
the amount of money that is collected
will be put into a savings account and can only be spent
on certain green activities.
They haven't said what those will be.
Well, they said a transit pass, bicycles, efficient furnaces,
windows, or even electric vehicles...
Right.
..where that money could go.
There's two problems with that.
The first is that often programs like that end up
people end up buying exactly
what they were going to buy anyway.
Kids grow out of their bicycles and their
families buy them new bicycles.
And so this carbon savings plan isn't causing people to do
anything differently than they would have otherwise.
And if that's the case, it's not encouraging them
to reduce their gasoline use.
The other thing is that
the Conservatives would lower the price.
So the current carbon tax is $40 per tonne.
That's about four and a half cents per litre.
It's not that much.
They would reduce it to $20 per tonne
and they would only increase it to $50 per tonne,
whereas the Liberals would increase it to $170 per tonne.
So they just wouldn't use that price incentive
to the same degree the Liberals will.
So a carbon tax that
the other parties have
promoted as a part of their own party is a better way,
you think, of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
More efficient way.
Yes, it's a more efficient way. It tends to cost less.
There's that opportunity to give money back,
and that can be very progressive.
It can help lower-income families.
It takes money from wealthy people
and transfers it to lower-income families.
OK. We need to mention the Bloc Québécois.
So, the Bloc has a platform that is pretty different
from any other party's platform.
They don't make the same types of promises.
Can you explain why that is?
The Bloc Québécois will never form government
because they don't even run candidates outside Quebec,
so they're never going to
get more seats than any other party.
But they also -- the issues on which they
pressure the federal government tend to be quite specific.
So they look for more money for Quebec
and they look for compensation to Quebec if they think
other provinces have been given too much money.
So they -- they tend to focus on the money
and they avoid calling for Canada-wide regulatory mandates.
All right, now it's time to look at which party
is offering the most effective plan
to help Canada reduce its carbon emissions.
We spoke to three experts for this.
None of them support a particular party,
and that's really important,
because we want their input based on their expertise,
not their biases.
So let's start with the Liberals.
They have ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gases.
They have a carbon tax, regulations,
and lots of details.
But they don't say how they plan
to achieve these targets by 2030.
And they are building the Trans Mountain pipeline,
which allows for the expansion of oil and gas production.
All right, turning to the Conservatives.
So their plan is better than previous Conservative plans
to tackle climate change,
but their targets to reduce emissions
are only going backwards.
Their carbon tax on industry is not a sure thing.
And they want to protect oil and gas jobs
rather than find ways to transform that sector
to make it greener.
OK, looking at the NDP.
They have an ambitious plan which includes a carbon tax,
a transition away from fossil fuels,
and they plan to stop subsidizing that sector.
But it's not clear where all the money will come from.
And finally, the Green Party.
They want to ban all fossil fuel subsidies,
put a high price on carbon,
and phase out oil and gas production.
But there is no cost to their plan and involves
a sudden, dramatic shift in the oil and gas industry.
Wow, that conversation was so interesting
and I learned so much.
Yeah, Alexia, it was great to speak with Kathryn Harrison.
She's obviously so educated about the subject,
and I definitely learned a lot, much like you.
But if you have a lot more questions about climate change
and where each party stands on the topic,
be sure to look at their platform
for a lot more information.
Yeah, for sure. Make sure to talk to your parents
or any adults in your life about this
because they're going to go out and vote,
and it's really good to educate ourselves on these topics
because one day we're going to go and vote
and it's always good to be prepared.
All right. Be sure to check out our website,
cbckidsnews.ca, for more coverage on the election.
For
And I'm Arjun Ram.