Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government unveiled its first budget this week.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Mark Leiren-Young is the author of Greener Than Thou: Surviving the Toxic Sludge of Canadian Eco-Politics and the host of the Skaana podcast, which focuses on protecting life in the ocean.
In 2015, the head of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, delivered a speech about “the tragedy of the horizon,” warning that climate change wasn’t just a threat to all life on Earth – which would have bored his audience at Lloyd’s of London to tears – but also to their bottom line. He explained that ignoring the climate crisis would lead to a financial crisis. And, most impressively for his crowd, he did this while wearing a tailored suit.
A few years later, Mr. Carney wrote an environmentalist’s manifesto for people allergic to Greenpeace: Value(s): Building a Better World for All.
Then he won the leadership of the Liberals where, historically, there’s really only one value – get elected.
And, as we saw in his new budget, the horizon has vanished from the agenda.
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While Mr. Carney’s book wasn’t exactly the hymnbook of Saint David Suzuki, it was a whole lot greener than anything we’ve heard from anyone with a serious shot at running Canada since Stéphane Dion exited the scene with his puppy, Kyoto.
Mr. Carney’s book went full Al Gore style, warning that climate change is an “existential risk” with “catastrophic impacts” while still speaking fluent TD/RBC/BMO by arguing that good environmental policy is good economic policy. But apparently, it’s not good electoral policy.
Over the last few years, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre succeeded beyond his wildest dreams on almost every front – except the electoral one. He wanted to end Justin Trudeau – yahtzee. He wanted to demonize the NDP – oopsie. And he made Canada’s consumer carbon tax so toxic that the guy who could have been its champion kicked off his political career by running it over with a tanker truck.
It was clear that either Mr. Carney had to axe that tax or there wouldn’t be much point house-hunting in Ottawa. It’s also possible that as a newly minted politician he discovered that the best policies are always the ones that rhyme. Or perhaps he did this to prove that Mr. Poilievre didn’t just lose his mojo after Mr. Trudeau stepped down, he also lost his nickname game, because he stubbornly insisted on sticking with “Carbon Tax Carney.”
I get it. Every environmentalist in Canada gets it. Mr. Carney did what he had to do.
But, like more voters than I think the Liberals realize, I was hoping Mr. Carney would live up to that recycled nickname and make some positive moves for the planet.
Instead, U.S. President Donald Trump started musing about an American Anschluss.
Alberta, the free-enterprise province, was demanding pipelines – or else – as long as they don’t have to pay for it, and British Columbia and coastal First Nations agreed to take on any potentially apocalyptic environmental risks.
Not to be outdone, the Parti Québécois promised a referendum for old times’ sake.
And it is tough to develop national policies, if you’re not sure you still have a nation.
As Kermit the Frog warned us – and Elizabeth May keeps proving – it’s not easy being green. But instead of skating between “drill baby drill” and “keep every drop in the ground,” Mr. Carney, the former hockey goalie, went all in on appeasing the home of his favourite hockey team, the appropriately named Oilers.
Electric-vehicle mandates were unplugged, emissions caps may be popped, tree-planting programs were clearcut, pipeline projects rose from the dead.
The budget seems to bid adieu to Canada’s commitment to the Paris climate commitments and makes Canada a safe space for companies that want to lie about how environmentally friendly and gluten-free they are.
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The most eco-minded nation-building projects are around carbon capture – which is more like carbon catch and release.
There’s no inspirational TransCanada energy grid that suggests the “generational” budget is designed to help future ones. Although a Youth Climate Corps will put young Canadians to work cleaning up the mess.
Fortunately, for the Prime Minister, his only competition is a guy who wants to turn pollution into a spectator sport. So, Canadians are stuck with a choice between the guy who wants to do the wrong thing for the planet because he claims to believe it’s the right thing, or the guy who knows it’s wrong and feels guilty about it.
Like a lot of lower-case green voters who enjoy eating food that contains more protein than plastic, I was hoping that instead of being the least-bad option for the environment, Mr. Carney might actually qualify as a good one. And I do have a suggestion that might help make that happen.
If Mr. Carney is wondering how he might want to approach running the country so people who care about a better world for all might feel better about voting for him, he could start with reading this book by a banker named Mark Carney.