Charles Brenchley | CUPE Communications
The Liberals’ “Real Change” slogan was heard throughout the 2015 federal election. It was effective in galvanizing public opinion and taking on a rigid and tired conservative government that had overstayed their welcome under Stephen Harper. Justin Trudeau and his Liberal team were swept to power on a promise to deliver on bold new ideas. But three years in, many of us find ourselves asking, how much has really changed?
We saw Trudeau deceptively abandon his commitment to replace our archaic voting system with one that would give every Canadian a voice.
And then there is the climate file. Let’s take a look at the promises and what has been done.
The Liberals showed up to the United Nations environmental conference in Paris, at the outset of their mandate, saying “Canada is back” but then refusing to set emission reduction targets. It is difficult to move a plan forward if targets are not set. The previous government did sign on to a new climate change convention in 2009, but Canada will fail to meet that modest commitment to reduce emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
Part of Trudeau’s rationale for moving forward with certain pipeline projects, flawed as it may be, was to advance and make progress on other parts of the climate change agenda. If this is the case, then we find ourselves asking, where is the progress?
The Liberals committed to a clear deliverable: to “rapidly add electric vehicles to the federal fleet.” This plan seems to have hit a snag when not even the minister of Natural Resources could follow through on his plan to get an electric vehicle due to a lack of charging stations in the nation’s capital. The federal election is just around the corner. It’s time for Justin Trudeau to show us what he has really done towards tackling climate change. On this file, like so many others, the Liberals have so far failed to deliver on their promises.
