Climate change is an ongoing concern for millions in Canada. The candidates were compelled to the wishes and needs of voters in order to with the most seats in the House of Commons. For this years’ Federal Election, the Liberals and the Conservatives had their own strategies of how to deal with this national problem.
The Liberals run by Justin Trudeau had significant pledges they believed will help with climate change. They pledged to raise the carbon tax in order to bring businesses and individuals to use less energy derived from fossil fuels. By increasing the carbon tax, it forces Canadians to be less careless and more mindful of their carbon footprints which is a strong factor for climate change. This is a form of negative reinforcement that increases the cost of fossil fuels in the result to reduce consumption, therefore lowering Canada's carbon emissions. In addition to the increasing of the carbon tax, they will offer “new incentives to buy electric cars, including up to $5,000 on new vehicles under $45,000” ('Compare party Platforms', 2019) as a way to evoke more electric cars being driven over diesel and gasoline powered cars. Electric cars produce “less than half the global warming emissions comparing to gasoline-powered vehicles” ('Environmental aspects of the electric car', 2019). These are two approaches by the Liberals that are deemed capable of positively impacting climate change to voters. It also connects with the Liberal party’s promise to, “Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030” ('Compare party Platforms', 2019). While planning on reducing gas emissions, the liberal party promises to rejuvenate Canada’s air levels by planting two billion new trees over the next decade ('Compare party Platforms', 2019). This allows for gigatons of carbon to be stored, that will lead to lowering the C02 levels in the air. By planting more trees, it is scientifically proven to positively effect the high levels of c02 in our atmosphere. The Liberals reassure voters of not only to help with lowering gas emissions and purifying the air, but also their efforts preserving Canadas’ waters. The Liberals aim to implicate ways to “Conserve 25 per cent of Canada’s land and oceans by 2025” ('Compare party Platforms', 2019). With these measures, it has an effect on lowering c02 as well. In addition, the Liberals plan on “creating a Canada Water Agency” ('Compare party Platforms', 2019), which will work to keep Canada’s water safe and free of waste. The Liberals believe in acting directly on climate problems rather than measures that are not yet proven effective of impacting climate change.
The Conservatives, whose leader is Andrew Scheer, had a different, less action approach to fighting climate change in Canada. They believe investing in “eco-friendly modes of transportation and increasing energy efficiency of cross-border trucking that will reduce gas emissions” ('Compare party Platforms', 2019). In addition, removing the carbon tax and instead, implement the “Green Patent Credit that will reduce the tax rate to 5% on income that is generated from green technology developed and patented in Canada” ('Compare party Platforms', 2019). Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives stand by removing the entire carbon tax system and invest in technology that can fight climate change. While it is a plan that could have some effect, it is not efficient enough to stand against climate change. By having tax on fuel such as the carbon tax, it allows for funding that can be used towards research and new technology. Instead of only investing and changing regulations as the Conservatives oblige for, it would be superior to invest, as well as applying or reinforcing current policies. They pledged to review and modernize air quality standards and regulations. The conservatives also pledged they would have banned raw sewage dumping in waterways across Canada, that removes toxins from the waters and work with international companies to collect abandoned and lost gear in the waters ('Compare party Platforms', 2019). The conservatives stated that they would “reinstate the Lake Simcoe clean-up fund and restore funding for the National Wetland Conservation Fund and the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnership Program, and create new fund for wildlife enhancement projects while Increasing the funding to protect forests in national parks and on federal lands from pests” ('Compare party Platforms', 2019). The Conservatives believe in trial and error methods as for example investing in online hubs for green technology innovators that could have potentially been a waste of taxpayers’ money. They also were going to Incorporate traditional knowledge of First Nations into climate change efforts ('Compare party Platforms', 2019), this indeed would not be of any help with the effects of climate change. Canada is facing way larger problems that cannot be solved with ways that would have been beneficial thousands of years ago. With all the factories and burning of fossil fuels as well as garbage disposal in waters, taking on this national and worldwide issue lightly, would only result in prolonging the situation from getting better.
While Climate change is listed in most polls as one of the top issues for voters in this election, the Liberals and Conservatives had their own ideas and strategies in attempt to lower the effects of this national concern. The Liberals have won “plurality of the 338 seats in Parliament and securing minority status this time and having Justin Trudeau as their leader for a second term” (Kestler-D'Amours, 'Canada election: What you should know', 2019). Justin Trudeau stated that the voters have voted for a strong fight against climate change this year (Maclean, '2019 federal election platform guide: Where the parties stand on everything', 2019). While comparing the two parties’ actions for climate change it is visible that Justin Trudeau’s Liberals surpassed Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives in taking on the key ballot issue of climate change. The Liberal’s based their pledges on scientific methods as well as ways that are guaranteed to be effective to fight climate change while the Conservatives believe in trial and error methods that could have made the situation worse. The Conservatives are right winged that believe in traditional measures on how to solve situations. This is shown by the Conservatives run by Andrew Scheer proposing to cancel the newly introduced carbon tax, choosing to use First Nation incentives and reviewing and investing in already applied methods. The Liberals on the other hand, are left winged and believe in acting quickly and efficient upon solving problems. This is demonstrated by the Liberals choice of pledging to directly act upon Canadas’ water systems and planting two billion trees to lower gas emissions.
The fate of Canada is in the hands of voters, who depend on the party that win the Federal Election to lead the country into a better tomorrow, for the present and future generations to come.
References
- Compare party Platforms. (2019, October 21). Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://election.ctvnews.ca/platforms.
- Kestler-D'Amours, J. (2019, October 21). Canada election: What you should know. Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/canada-elections-191018163020088.html.
- Maclean. (2019, October 30). 2019 federal election platform guide: Where the parties stand on everything. Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://www.macleans.ca/politics/2019-federal-election-platform-guide-where-the-parties-stand-on-everything/#climate.
- Environmental aspects of the electric car. (2019, November 8). Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_aspects_of_the_electric_car.
