The climate emergency will require government spending and the electorate will need to assess the budget plans of the political parties to meet this challenge.
Build Back Better
Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, focuses on the social and economic dimensions of Canada's shift toward a zero-carbon economy,
For a just transition
including the necessity of a just transition for vulnerable workers and communities across the country.
Call it what you want: a Green New Deal, a proactive just transition or a government-led clean industrial policy. Whatever the label, we need massive, direct public investment in emissions-reducing, job-creating infrastructure projects across the country. Chump change won’t cut it here. The federal government should be spending upwards of $40 billion per year to accelerate our transition to a net zero carbon economy… Rather than cling to an outdated and dying vision of the Canadian economy, we need a transformative vision for a net zero future. Budget 2021 is a big opportunity to get us there.1
Dr. Don Lenihan, Senior Associate at the Institute on Governance and Andrew Balfour, Managing Partner at Rubicon Strategy, comment that in the National News Watch that Justin Trudeau may be proposing a recovery plan that will “build back better,
A liberal budget
” but last week Erin O’Toole countered with a promise to “build back right.”
A conservative budget
Conservatives think they not only have a better plan for Canada, but that they have the right one.
the recovery (and election) debate won’t be about whether to pick winners or how to define “infrastructure.” It will be about the window of opportunity. People will want to hear what the different parties think the federal government can and should do to ensure that Canada is a player in this new economy. Looked at in this light, it’s hard to see the Build Back Right approach as the right choice for Canada. The country needs a plan that will lead to a successful transition. And Conservatives agree that their approach isn’t designed for this. Moreover, as the debate unfolds, Canadians will realize that once the window closes, the big players, such as the US, China, and the EU, will have the market cornered. Canadians therefore must decide now whether they want to be buyers or sellers in this new economy. And that makes the stakes in this debate very clear: Act now and think big or get shut out.2
Seth Klein writes in the National Observer that Trudeau’s climate plans appear lacklustre and tepid in comparison to Biden's ambitious agenda. In the course of his climate research he has developed four markers that signal when a government has shifted into emergency mode:
Sadly, when it comes to the climate emergency, the Trudeau government is 0 for 4 on hitting these markers. Biden, on the other hand, is starting to hit all four. Let’s compare the two leaders. Some form of carbon pricing will likely be part of Biden’s plan. But unlike Canada’s federal plan, it is not the centrepiece of Biden’s strategy (it is more of a side story). And that’s good. It’s basically impossible to get people excited about carbon pricing. At best, we reluctantly accept it. What Biden is proposing is compelling. Nothing about the Trudeau government’s approach to the climate crisis looks or sounds urgent, and none of it feels like a grand collective undertaking. Biden, in stark contrast, is communicating emergency and generational opportunity. He’s making hundreds of new appointments to lead a cross-government transformation centred on the climate emergency. His domestic climate czar, Gina McCarthy, is a particularly inspiring choice — in every interview she gives, she communicates like someone with deep policy knowledge who is seized with the task at hand. Biden’s first wave of executive orders centred on rising to the climate challenge, framed around jobs and equity (the full, and inspiring, January 2021 climate executive orders can be found here).3
Four emergency markers
Our economic health in the effort to address the climate emergency will be related to our ability to participate in the audacious projects likely to be initiated by the United States government.
References
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