CLIMATE

The next cabinet will be sworn in just weeks before the start of COP26, a landmark United Nations climate conference that is supposed to set the course for collectively working to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Ottawa has already submitted to the UN a new emissions-reduction commitment of 40 per cent to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. (The Conservatives campaigned on returning to the previous 30per-cent target.) But Ottawa still needs to work quickly to prepare for negotiations around new international policy mechanisms. That may include tariffs on some carbon-intensive imports, which all the major parties say they are interested in implementing – but without really explaining how they would do so. Meanwhile, to get Canada on track to meet its target, the government will have to move swiftly to develop an array of new programs promised during the campaign, including a new sales quota and other measures to speed the transition to electric vehicles; an expanded strategy for retrofitting buildings; and new tax credits for carbon capture and other forms of clean technology.

And after a summer of deadly heat waves and natural disasters, the government will need to prioritize building resilience to unavoidable climate-change effects. That will involve making good on commitments such as new funding to fight wildfires and ensuring the availability of flood insurance. More broadly, it will mean completing work on a new national adaptation strategy that was in the works when the election was called. –