Great news indeed, but as far as world leaders knowing about climate change, I think you’re (temporarily) forgetting Dr. Sheinbaum to our south! We’re surrounded!
While I much prefer Carney to Poilievre (or Maple MAGA as we like to call him here in Canada) I was disappointed that one of the first things he did as PM was eliminate the consumer carbon tax. This was because Poilievre had distorted the impact of the tax and turned people against it. Had Carney not done this it is possible he might not have been elected. An instructive case of idealism versus pragmatic politics. For the moment Carney has left intact the industrial carbon tax on large emitters but that may be short lived as well. One of the arguments against it is that the US has no carbon tax so we are just making our industries less competitive.
As a climate concerned Albertan surrounded by staunch conservatives, I absolutely agree with you but I think it was a gesture to placate some of these people. They have less ammo without the tax but I agree, it’s definitely a setback. I can’t overstate how deep the conservative message is out here. It’s a virus and logic doesn’t seem to register with a lot of these folks. They want a forever oil boom and somehow think it’s owed to them.
I've lived in AB for 35 years and in west central AB for 10 of those, and hoo boy the whininess of conservatives out here is just deafening. And exhausting. No one wants to lose good paying oilfield jobs but to focus on that to the exclusion of any renewables is just so shortsighted. And dumb. So dumb.
Canada should implement a carbon border adjustment mechanism. Essentially a tariff that targets goods with a high carbon content. The EU will have one soon.
When he dropped the consumer carbon tax he pledged to develop a CBAM since “it aligns Canada with our allies who are still engaged in the fight against climate change." I think he could introduce it much sooner than Europe.
A border adjustment is problematic for Canada because so much of our trade is with the US. The economies are highly integrated so that the components of a finished product (like a car) might cross the border several times. Thanks to Trump’s tariff war, Canada will try and diversify its trading partners.
I used to have the typical knee-jerk reaction to attacks on the carbon tax, but I feel it was also 1)too low to be effective and 2) used as an excuse not to take more effective and direct action against big polluters.
I agree that the consumer carbon tax was too low to be effective. The rebate meant that only people who produced more CO2 than average actually paid a price and those people were more likely to be able to absorb the cost (on average, more affluent households produce more CO2). My guess is that it would have to be ten times higher but that’s not based on any real evidence.
> More to the point, even if you need to rely on China to build your wind turbine or your solar panel, you need to rely on them once.
First, I'll state that we absolutely need to replace fossil fuels! No question. But....
Your statement isn't quite accurate, at least not for global energy infrastructure. That's true for homes maybe, but our society has the destructive habit of always wanting *more* energy. With global capitalism, we can't just plug 'n play a bunch of solar into our energy grid and everyone will be happy.
In reality, next year, people will want more energy, then more after that. As soon as more energy is available, people will use it up for innovation to make things that require even more energy. That's a huge part of the problem of the simplistic "let's just replace everything with solar" – while we NEED to do that, we ALSO need to change society so that we are more frugal with energy....
Hi Bill, Canadian here. Congrats to your women in hockey. We'll get you next time. The Canadian election was not a good democratic outcome. Our smaller parties like the working class NDP and the Green party were decimated by people manipulated by raw fear into voting Liberal "to protect Canada". And what does that mean? It means Trump is a disruptor, and he disrupted a neighbour. Big deal. We've always hated Trump up here. This is no victory.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives still got 41% of the popular vote, to the Liberals 43%, as our country staggers toward the "Two Party Abyss" that the USA can't climb out of. Although he lost his seat, Poilievre was not rejected, he just had the rug cut out from his one trick pony "Fuck Trudeau" platform by Trudeau resigning. That is the real story of this election - Trudeau resigning.
If Biden had started grooming a proper successor like AOC the day he got elected, instead of bailing at the last minute, you might have got the same marginally favourable result.
Speaking from the U.S. here — I hear what you’re saying but there is still a significant material difference in what Canadians have accomplished and where the U.S. is now headed. We are losing our civil rights and reversing climate progress, for starters. That is the context I which McKibben is evaluating Carney’s win.
I agree - and I'm not trying to discount what US citizens are going through or up against. Corporate capture of government is at an all-time high. But the only winner in this election was the Liberals, not the people of Canada, or our planet. I was recently jailed for peaceful protest of logging in BC. My Indigenous friend got 60 days for standing in a logging road. Americans have a rosy and unrealistic view of Canadian "progress" on civil rights and climate change. If you sass the corporations, you live in a police state here. Read this: https://www.focusonvictoria.ca/forests/65/
I agree with you as I was a historical NDP voter, and prior to that, green. Those parties are amazing and I know they suffered last night. And I’m sorry for what you went through. There’s no excuse for it in our country.
My issue is Canada has a fractured lefty vote and a huge monolith on the right. If you look at the voting map the west is a sea of blue and I voted strategically to keep the conservatives out. I’m backing Nenshi locally and belong to the NDP, but this election was too important to let Pierre win. Trump is a threat and we need to match his rhetoric with strength.
Thank goodness a lot of people like you voted strategically. The Conservative party is under internal stress as well as it encompasses those on the far right (who would vote Republican) and those who are fiscally conservative but much more socially progressive. If the Conservative party can hold this diverse membership together they will be hard to defeat in future elections if the NDP and Liberals split the vote on the left.
Thanks for the link, will read. Sadly I think we are at a stage where whether or not your government is sending its citizens to foreign concentration camps is a meaningful distinction. It’s a very low bar admittedly.
I live in Alberta and I’m so excited Carney won. He had my vote. I think if he can bring real jobs back to the prairies through alternative energy and all of his “build, baby, build” plans, soon the empty conservative rhetoric will be pretty empty. I hate Danielle Smith so much but I can’t say a word against her, most of my neighbours are really angry conservatives. I get it—Alberta had it easy for a long time—and change is hard. But climate change is coming for us all, and Carney is the right man for the top job. I hope my many American colleagues watch his acceptance speech. It’s a master class on what Canadians value and who we are, and so many Americans can’t be bothered to consider that.
I read Carney's book "Values: An Economists Guide To Everything That Matters" last year. It gives a very useful insight into how he goes about things. In reference to the role of money in the economy he notes that credibility and trust are vital, but that this “cannot be maintained without political support. This in turn requires public understanding, which is built through transparency and accountability, and it requires consent which is grounded in solidarity.”
Great article. Great comments. Glad to see a climate supporter leading Canada. I hope he is not bought off by fossil fuel companies the way politicians here n the US are. I would be happy to have my state of Maine join Canada if things get worse.
So much information. Thank you. And helping allay my concerns that Carney would be too much banker, not enough environmentalist. That he recognizes that both perspectives are not mutually exclusive, that both need to co-exist, because climate change is an economic threat - great to hear.
I wish Carney's commitment to climate extended as far as to oppose Israel's destruction of Gaza, which (as I have appreciated you continuing to mention) is as devastating to the environment as it is to human life and culture.
Leading off with the climate argument was not an endearing start. I will read on but that is my initial reaction. Carney was not elected to save the planet, in fact we heard next to nothing about his net zero dreams, probably on purpose.
Great news indeed, but as far as world leaders knowing about climate change, I think you’re (temporarily) forgetting Dr. Sheinbaum to our south! We’re surrounded!
This is GREAT. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
#MexicoLeader also speaks #ClimateChange - WOW! 😮
While I much prefer Carney to Poilievre (or Maple MAGA as we like to call him here in Canada) I was disappointed that one of the first things he did as PM was eliminate the consumer carbon tax. This was because Poilievre had distorted the impact of the tax and turned people against it. Had Carney not done this it is possible he might not have been elected. An instructive case of idealism versus pragmatic politics. For the moment Carney has left intact the industrial carbon tax on large emitters but that may be short lived as well. One of the arguments against it is that the US has no carbon tax so we are just making our industries less competitive.
As a climate concerned Albertan surrounded by staunch conservatives, I absolutely agree with you but I think it was a gesture to placate some of these people. They have less ammo without the tax but I agree, it’s definitely a setback. I can’t overstate how deep the conservative message is out here. It’s a virus and logic doesn’t seem to register with a lot of these folks. They want a forever oil boom and somehow think it’s owed to them.
I've lived in AB for 35 years and in west central AB for 10 of those, and hoo boy the whininess of conservatives out here is just deafening. And exhausting. No one wants to lose good paying oilfield jobs but to focus on that to the exclusion of any renewables is just so shortsighted. And dumb. So dumb.
Amen to all that!!
Canada should implement a carbon border adjustment mechanism. Essentially a tariff that targets goods with a high carbon content. The EU will have one soon.
When he dropped the consumer carbon tax he pledged to develop a CBAM since “it aligns Canada with our allies who are still engaged in the fight against climate change." I think he could introduce it much sooner than Europe.
A border adjustment is problematic for Canada because so much of our trade is with the US. The economies are highly integrated so that the components of a finished product (like a car) might cross the border several times. Thanks to Trump’s tariff war, Canada will try and diversify its trading partners.
I used to have the typical knee-jerk reaction to attacks on the carbon tax, but I feel it was also 1)too low to be effective and 2) used as an excuse not to take more effective and direct action against big polluters.
I agree that the consumer carbon tax was too low to be effective. The rebate meant that only people who produced more CO2 than average actually paid a price and those people were more likely to be able to absorb the cost (on average, more affluent households produce more CO2). My guess is that it would have to be ten times higher but that’s not based on any real evidence.
Made me crazy that they shifted to giving everyone a rebate rather than use it to develop more green initiatives.
At this point, we are pretty much fucked.
Nice article. But I will point out one thing:
> More to the point, even if you need to rely on China to build your wind turbine or your solar panel, you need to rely on them once.
First, I'll state that we absolutely need to replace fossil fuels! No question. But....
Your statement isn't quite accurate, at least not for global energy infrastructure. That's true for homes maybe, but our society has the destructive habit of always wanting *more* energy. With global capitalism, we can't just plug 'n play a bunch of solar into our energy grid and everyone will be happy.
In reality, next year, people will want more energy, then more after that. As soon as more energy is available, people will use it up for innovation to make things that require even more energy. That's a huge part of the problem of the simplistic "let's just replace everything with solar" – while we NEED to do that, we ALSO need to change society so that we are more frugal with energy....
Hi Bill, Canadian here. Congrats to your women in hockey. We'll get you next time. The Canadian election was not a good democratic outcome. Our smaller parties like the working class NDP and the Green party were decimated by people manipulated by raw fear into voting Liberal "to protect Canada". And what does that mean? It means Trump is a disruptor, and he disrupted a neighbour. Big deal. We've always hated Trump up here. This is no victory.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives still got 41% of the popular vote, to the Liberals 43%, as our country staggers toward the "Two Party Abyss" that the USA can't climb out of. Although he lost his seat, Poilievre was not rejected, he just had the rug cut out from his one trick pony "Fuck Trudeau" platform by Trudeau resigning. That is the real story of this election - Trudeau resigning.
If Biden had started grooming a proper successor like AOC the day he got elected, instead of bailing at the last minute, you might have got the same marginally favourable result.
Speaking from the U.S. here — I hear what you’re saying but there is still a significant material difference in what Canadians have accomplished and where the U.S. is now headed. We are losing our civil rights and reversing climate progress, for starters. That is the context I which McKibben is evaluating Carney’s win.
I agree - and I'm not trying to discount what US citizens are going through or up against. Corporate capture of government is at an all-time high. But the only winner in this election was the Liberals, not the people of Canada, or our planet. I was recently jailed for peaceful protest of logging in BC. My Indigenous friend got 60 days for standing in a logging road. Americans have a rosy and unrealistic view of Canadian "progress" on civil rights and climate change. If you sass the corporations, you live in a police state here. Read this: https://www.focusonvictoria.ca/forests/65/
peace and love
I agree with you as I was a historical NDP voter, and prior to that, green. Those parties are amazing and I know they suffered last night. And I’m sorry for what you went through. There’s no excuse for it in our country.
My issue is Canada has a fractured lefty vote and a huge monolith on the right. If you look at the voting map the west is a sea of blue and I voted strategically to keep the conservatives out. I’m backing Nenshi locally and belong to the NDP, but this election was too important to let Pierre win. Trump is a threat and we need to match his rhetoric with strength.
Thank goodness a lot of people like you voted strategically. The Conservative party is under internal stress as well as it encompasses those on the far right (who would vote Republican) and those who are fiscally conservative but much more socially progressive. If the Conservative party can hold this diverse membership together they will be hard to defeat in future elections if the NDP and Liberals split the vote on the left.
Absolutely. Agreed
Thanks for the link, will read. Sadly I think we are at a stage where whether or not your government is sending its citizens to foreign concentration camps is a meaningful distinction. It’s a very low bar admittedly.
I live in Alberta and I’m so excited Carney won. He had my vote. I think if he can bring real jobs back to the prairies through alternative energy and all of his “build, baby, build” plans, soon the empty conservative rhetoric will be pretty empty. I hate Danielle Smith so much but I can’t say a word against her, most of my neighbours are really angry conservatives. I get it—Alberta had it easy for a long time—and change is hard. But climate change is coming for us all, and Carney is the right man for the top job. I hope my many American colleagues watch his acceptance speech. It’s a master class on what Canadians value and who we are, and so many Americans can’t be bothered to consider that.
I agree with you entirely, especially re DS. I don't understand her appeal at all.
I keep threatening to move to the Yukon but ugh, packing is such a chore.
If Trump annexes Canada we can elect Carney president and perhaps be saved.
perhaps Canada could annex the usa?
It's very good news indeed :)
I read Carney's book "Values: An Economists Guide To Everything That Matters" last year. It gives a very useful insight into how he goes about things. In reference to the role of money in the economy he notes that credibility and trust are vital, but that this “cannot be maintained without political support. This in turn requires public understanding, which is built through transparency and accountability, and it requires consent which is grounded in solidarity.”
Exceptional article. So informative on so many fronts. And it gives me hope!
Fabulous article thank you!
"What a shot in the arm!, as my mum, a nurse would say.
Take the lead, Canada...
Great article. Great comments. Glad to see a climate supporter leading Canada. I hope he is not bought off by fossil fuel companies the way politicians here n the US are. I would be happy to have my state of Maine join Canada if things get worse.
So much information. Thank you. And helping allay my concerns that Carney would be too much banker, not enough environmentalist. That he recognizes that both perspectives are not mutually exclusive, that both need to co-exist, because climate change is an economic threat - great to hear.
I wish Carney's commitment to climate extended as far as to oppose Israel's destruction of Gaza, which (as I have appreciated you continuing to mention) is as devastating to the environment as it is to human life and culture.
And trump is banning the word “climate.” What an idiot he is.
Leading off with the climate argument was not an endearing start. I will read on but that is my initial reaction. Carney was not elected to save the planet, in fact we heard next to nothing about his net zero dreams, probably on purpose.
A video of the 2015 speech. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2015/breaking-the-tragedy-of-the-horizon-climate-change-and-financial-stability