Carney defends new pipeline in face of questions over wildfires, climate

OTTAWA — As Toronto recorded the worst air quality in the world this week amid smoke from raging northern Ontario wildfires, Prime Minister Mark Carney defended against reporters’ questions over his climate priorities by pointing to his predecessor’s record.

“Well, our government has reaped the results from the previous government, that’s the truth,” Carney said in French as reporters questioned why he’s backing a new oil pipeline from Alberta that climate-change activists say will make environmental problems worse.

“This is not the result of the actions of our government,” he added at a press conference about military equipment in London, Ont., on Thursday.

“I just got here,” insisted Carney, who became prime minister 16 months ago.

The prime minister acknowledged last month Canada will not be meeting the more ambitious climate targets set out by the government of his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, which promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

In a June video called “Forward Guidance: Canada’s Energy Future”, Carney said that while the climate plan he inherited from the previous government was “well-intentioned and well-suited for the times in which it was designed,” it no longer fits the current reality.

“The changes we have made will mean that our emissions will be higher in the next few years than they were projected to be under the previous government’s plan,” he said.

Carney explained in the video the Trudeau-era strategy was “not sustainable” and would have been “too expensive” for Canadians who are already struggling with affordability.

He also said that plan would have been “too divisive” for the country.

With U.S. tariffs undermining the Canadian economy and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East disrupting the global supply of oil, the Canadian government is now focused on its goal of supplying more reliable energy to the rest of the world .

This month, just days after releasing the “Forward Guidance” video, Carney announced with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith plans to build another oil pipeline to the West Coast for exports to Asian markets. The proposal includes an initiative to capture carbon emissions from oil production for underground storage, as well as Alberta raising its industrial carbon tax and adhering to federal methane-reduction efforts.

Asked by a reporter on Thursday what he would say to Canadians who believe the current wildfires are a sign Canada should “lean in” to its climate targets rather than dropping them, Carney said, “I absolutely agree.”

“We — the government — view leaning in as actually putting the investment in the ground that’s going to achieve those climate targets,” he said.

“We relied too much on laws that weren’t driving the actual investment that’s necessary to reduce emissions. So, we’ve shifted our focus,” he added, noting the emission-reduction conditions on the pipeline deal.

He said the increase in Alberta’s industrial carbon tax will create a “carbon market that actually works” — not just “in name.”

Carney also mentioned his government’s recent electricity strategy , which aims to double the capacity of the current grid by 2050 to meet projected demand. The government has said this will help supply clean and affordable power for decades.

“It’s action, not prohibition, that is most important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Carney in French.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Carney’s logic of reducing emissions while adding a new pipeline makes little sense.

“If the prime minister is serious in his preoccupation of doing something else than putting the blame on Justin Trudeau… he would stop this petroleum madness, and bring back his climate protection measures,” he said Thursday in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec.

“The security, health and the economy of Quebec and Canada are in play,” he added.

Blanchet, who was announcing a star candidate in one of the Quebec ridings where the Liberals are poised to call a by-election in coming months, said it is no secret that Carney has been immensely popular in national polls, but he thinks the tide is changing.

Blanchet compared Carney to a brand-new car that is now over a year old: “People are starting to see a few defects, but they haven’t yet decided that they were ripped off.”

“Sooner or later, that is bound to happen.”

National Post calevesque@postmedia.com

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