If the Prime Minister convenes a “climate summit”, inviting the Premiers to gather and work collaboratively toward shared climate action, I’ll be a monkeys Uncle.
Since assuming power in 2015, this Liberal government has never had any meaningful consultation with the Provinces over climate policy, preferring to bully its way along through blindsiding COP announcements and legislative action. Some of the legislation hasn’t even passed the smell test of the court process and yet the Liberals press ahead.
It’s pretty hard to imagine that Justin Trudeau would have a diplomatic epiphany and become a brokerage politician in the twilight zone of his administration.
8 Conservative governments most of whom are adopting USA style combat politics - truth and facts be dammed; theatre and outrage are where they action is.
Let's see the Premiers meet together to solve the most important challenge for Canada: A health care system that needs urgent care.
B You comment was a personal attack rather than an alternative point if view with justification. This is GOP tactic in itself and does nothing to advance the opportunity substack provides for people to come together and respectfully discuss different points of view. Perhaps you could share why you think the Liberal party embraces the new attack politics.
The majority of the premiers are conservative and in Liberal land that means MAGA, right wing, Donald Trump, whatever. Those Liberal/NDP talking points are getting old and very tiresome. Heaven forbid the premiers want to meet with the PM to hash out ideas because their constituents want them to. That is not in Trudeau's wheelhouse unless he chooses to try to win votes with a carve out in say, Atlantic Canada.
Remember when PMSH refused to meet with Chief Theresa Spence after the Idle No More March? MP Justin Trudeau in a show of bravado walked bravely into the tent to meet her to the applause of those who were tired of Harper. I thought PMJT should have met with key members of the Truckers convoy in 2022 as a sign of courage and respect. Now he refuses to meet with the 2024 Premiers of Provinces and Territories. Different crew from the 2016 gathering but equally deserving of a respectful conversation.
Trudeau seems to not like the spotlight on him at the initiation/request of others.
Such a shameful personality deficit for someone who wanted the PM job so he could SERVE and lead in Papineau and in every village, city and truck stop in all of Canada. When one gives service, the task is often decided on in conversations, actively listening to find common ground on which to build a path forward. When those conversations frighten a leader who might have to work hard to listen, empathize and collaborate, it is time for that leader to graciously step aside for someone more amenable to building the bridges to dialogue.
The only thing that matters at this point in Canadian federal politics is whether Pierre Poilievre gets away with his strategy (and becomes Prime Minister) or Justin Trudeau somehow fends him off (and remains in office). When Justin Trudeau was the shiny-pony underdog fop up against the invincible power fighter Patrick Brazeau, the dramatic and unexpected outcome redirected history. I cannot fathom why anyone would think that Justin Trudeau would enter the public federal-provincial ring against a bunch of Premiers surrounding him on all sides, while his real foe sits ringside in his blue suit and black T-shirt laughing his head off at the slaughter. Trudeau is way too smart to let that happen. Me, I’ll wait for the one on one that counts.
Dare we mention (or even contemplate) the "R" word? Agreeing on a fair question is, of course, next to impossible, but a *R*eferendum might just be a way to find out what Canadians think.
Sir, I follow you on your Substack and quite enjoy it. However, however.
I respectfully suggest that finding "out what Canadians think" is perhaps an oxymoron.
First, I submit (and not respectfully, I might add) that most Canadians DON'T think. At least not coherently. Secondly, what Canadians think today will typically change tomorrow, or at least within the life of most governments. Thirdly, the election results in 2015, 2019 and 2021 tell us what Canadians thought THEN (dummies!) and the polls pretend to tell us what they think now. Buyers' remorse writ large at the moment - see points one and two.
Ken, I think you are being a bit harsh with your opinion of most Canadians, and in fact I believe the opposite is true. The convoy was a perfect example where the loud minority drew the most attention while the silent majority went on with their lives. Most people believe that climate change is real and that their is a cost of medication and recovery from weather events associated with it. Polls that suggest the majority of people want eliminate the carbon price are so slanted that there is only one response. I believe asked correctly the majority would say yes I believe we should be prepared to pay to help combat climate change. Forest fires don't wait for a time of low inflation.
Mark, I could respond to each of your points in various ways but I will simply note that I respectfully disagree with you and that I really think that most Canadians do not think very deeply and are much too easily swayed by the popular thought of the moment.
Ken, I take your point and certainly social media and bumper sticker slogans are the main form of information of the people you are talking about. I guess we just differ on the percentages. Good debate though,
I suspect provincial Premiers make their cases to the PM just fine, in the absence of a federal provincial conference. Conservative premiers are out for blood, not a decent conversation. At this point, I can’t think of one Conservative premier who is even moderately articulate or knowledgeable. Danielle Smith and Doug Ford come to mind quickly. They will leave their respective provinces in absolute ruins by the time they finish their tenure.
It's been a while since I've had to intervene here, but I'm shutting comments down on this thread and, in future, I won't hesitate to revoke accounts of people who threaten or insult other subscribers.
the mainstream media, and the substack woods, are full of writers who think it's the height of cleverness to talk as if the Prime Minister's only thoughts these days are about getting re-elected, and that his thoughts rarely, if ever, turn to actual policy matters.
I was prepared to be disappointed with you for joining in with that line of thought.
Imagine my surprise when your piece actually turned to climate policy, as opposed to climate politics.
I share your nostalgia for the old days when politicians actually sat down and talked about issues that mattered, rather than simply posturing.
And your reminded that issues of constitutional change didn't start with Trudeau the elder, but many years before. And that nothing gets done in Canada without lots of talk, preferably talk leading to compromise, the essential political skill.
Let's hope some of the clever media commentators are reading your work and are embarrassed by their intellectual shallowness.
My guess is it doesn't work that way, unfortunately. At any rate, congrats for a good piece.
Sir: I do like your concluding paragraph, "If you skip the talking, you can persuade yourself of your own virtue, pretty much indefinitely, while everything collapses."
I think that you have pretty much described the current government and it's Pretender-in-Chief.
On the other hand, democracy is a truly dirty business when everyone is entitled to an opinion and is entitled to share that opinion, particularly when that opinion does not agree with the priorities of the Pretender-in-Chief. I guess that the thing that irks me most about the PiC is that he knows - just knows, I tell you! - that he is right and anyone who thinks otherwise is a dirty dog. And wrong. Or something like that.
The PiC and his acolytes and his various running mates believe that his interpretation is correct - it's existential I tell you! - and they refuse to allow democracy to occur. Unless, of course, it agrees with their version of The Gospel according to the PiC.
Well, they certainly aren't allowing the representatives of the provincial governments to make their cases in concert through the mechanism of a federal provincial conference.
Further, they decry, call down and heap incredible scorn on anyone - very much including other elected politicians - who has a contrary view. They want to vilify and deplatform any opponents to their various policies, etc.
Trudeau should show leadership and meet with the premiers in a closed door meeting over a few days and hash things out. Nova Scotia recently sent him their climate plan. What happened to it? Is Quebec meeting Trudeau's targets? Seems verboten to even ask. Trudeau seems to forget the premiers are representing their constituent's concerns. The sad truth is it is Trudeau's way or the highway. JWR learned that. Another great one Paul.
Reminds of my time working at the United Nations. When friends came to visit my offices, all I could show them were meeting rooms of all sizes, plenty of them. It told them "at the UN, we meet a lot, it's what we do". No matter how unproductive, or how long it took to reach a consensus - the very fact of meeting is the 1st step in coming up with solutions that work.
Well said. The Liberal approach to climate change shows how unserious they are about it. They should have held a national summit every year since 2015 to build, fund, and update a coherent plan that would be acceptable across the country. If Alberta needs to be bribed to get onboard, so be it. Decarbonization is necessarily big and complicated and touches every part of everyone’s lives; everyone needs to be heard, everyone is a stakeholder. It’s a serious existential issue; it deserves serious political attention and not a small amount of palm grease.
Instead, this is treated like just another wedge issue: useful for rallying the troops, sloganeering, and kicking up political dust, but not intended to actually be solved. We can feel dopamine hits rallying behind Team Red or Team Blue while PEI slips under the waves.
I hope your line about the Clerks of the Privy Council sandbagging these meetings over money concerns is just snark. Or are these bureaucrats really trying to undermine coordination between our duly elected leaders because they don’t want to spend money? That’s not their job! We have duly elected officials who decide how to spend the money. That’s why they are elected! If the first ministers want to appropriate funds for a 50 foot tall gold statue of Polkaroo, that’s their choice to make.
Funny how history repeats itself. Harper favoured a carbon tax and for the last years of his being in power he refused to meet with the first ministers.
Canadians and their politicians are spending huge amounts of time, energy and money on reducing carbon dioxide emissions for nought.
Forest fires will burn even if the country met its. The rest of world despite talking take no real action and will never because no country can afford the cost of $40B battery plants making a vehicle component for vehicles that the normal family can never afford.
Canada would be respected more for investing $400M in equipping an artillery shell manufacturer for sales to those in need, Ukraine and Israel, readily come to mind.
You might even get all the premiers to support such an investment in Canada and with allies who have little respect for Canada in our current and long term condition.
Happy Budget Day! Another $40B in the hole. May all that is holy have mercy on Canadians!
If the Prime Minister convenes a “climate summit”, inviting the Premiers to gather and work collaboratively toward shared climate action, I’ll be a monkeys Uncle.
Since assuming power in 2015, this Liberal government has never had any meaningful consultation with the Provinces over climate policy, preferring to bully its way along through blindsiding COP announcements and legislative action. Some of the legislation hasn’t even passed the smell test of the court process and yet the Liberals press ahead.
It’s pretty hard to imagine that Justin Trudeau would have a diplomatic epiphany and become a brokerage politician in the twilight zone of his administration.
8 Conservative governments most of whom are adopting USA style combat politics - truth and facts be dammed; theatre and outrage are where they action is.
Let's see the Premiers meet together to solve the most important challenge for Canada: A health care system that needs urgent care.
You are blind if you don’t see similarities between Trudeau’s style of politics and that of the US…
B You comment was a personal attack rather than an alternative point if view with justification. This is GOP tactic in itself and does nothing to advance the opportunity substack provides for people to come together and respectfully discuss different points of view. Perhaps you could share why you think the Liberal party embraces the new attack politics.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/justin-trudeau-turns-to-u-s-experts-for-lessons-in-u-s-style-politics
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/kelly-mcparland-justin-trudeau-has-more-in-common-with-donald-trump-than-hed-like-to-admit
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/glavin-chumminess-with-dictators-and-other-trump-trudeau-similarities
The majority of the premiers are conservative and in Liberal land that means MAGA, right wing, Donald Trump, whatever. Those Liberal/NDP talking points are getting old and very tiresome. Heaven forbid the premiers want to meet with the PM to hash out ideas because their constituents want them to. That is not in Trudeau's wheelhouse unless he chooses to try to win votes with a carve out in say, Atlantic Canada.
Remember when PMSH refused to meet with Chief Theresa Spence after the Idle No More March? MP Justin Trudeau in a show of bravado walked bravely into the tent to meet her to the applause of those who were tired of Harper. I thought PMJT should have met with key members of the Truckers convoy in 2022 as a sign of courage and respect. Now he refuses to meet with the 2024 Premiers of Provinces and Territories. Different crew from the 2016 gathering but equally deserving of a respectful conversation.
Trudeau seems to not like the spotlight on him at the initiation/request of others.
Such a shameful personality deficit for someone who wanted the PM job so he could SERVE and lead in Papineau and in every village, city and truck stop in all of Canada. When one gives service, the task is often decided on in conversations, actively listening to find common ground on which to build a path forward. When those conversations frighten a leader who might have to work hard to listen, empathize and collaborate, it is time for that leader to graciously step aside for someone more amenable to building the bridges to dialogue.
The only thing that matters at this point in Canadian federal politics is whether Pierre Poilievre gets away with his strategy (and becomes Prime Minister) or Justin Trudeau somehow fends him off (and remains in office). When Justin Trudeau was the shiny-pony underdog fop up against the invincible power fighter Patrick Brazeau, the dramatic and unexpected outcome redirected history. I cannot fathom why anyone would think that Justin Trudeau would enter the public federal-provincial ring against a bunch of Premiers surrounding him on all sides, while his real foe sits ringside in his blue suit and black T-shirt laughing his head off at the slaughter. Trudeau is way too smart to let that happen. Me, I’ll wait for the one on one that counts.
Dare we mention (or even contemplate) the "R" word? Agreeing on a fair question is, of course, next to impossible, but a *R*eferendum might just be a way to find out what Canadians think.
Sir, I follow you on your Substack and quite enjoy it. However, however.
I respectfully suggest that finding "out what Canadians think" is perhaps an oxymoron.
First, I submit (and not respectfully, I might add) that most Canadians DON'T think. At least not coherently. Secondly, what Canadians think today will typically change tomorrow, or at least within the life of most governments. Thirdly, the election results in 2015, 2019 and 2021 tell us what Canadians thought THEN (dummies!) and the polls pretend to tell us what they think now. Buyers' remorse writ large at the moment - see points one and two.
Ken, I think you are being a bit harsh with your opinion of most Canadians, and in fact I believe the opposite is true. The convoy was a perfect example where the loud minority drew the most attention while the silent majority went on with their lives. Most people believe that climate change is real and that their is a cost of medication and recovery from weather events associated with it. Polls that suggest the majority of people want eliminate the carbon price are so slanted that there is only one response. I believe asked correctly the majority would say yes I believe we should be prepared to pay to help combat climate change. Forest fires don't wait for a time of low inflation.
Mark, I could respond to each of your points in various ways but I will simply note that I respectfully disagree with you and that I really think that most Canadians do not think very deeply and are much too easily swayed by the popular thought of the moment.
Ken, I take your point and certainly social media and bumper sticker slogans are the main form of information of the people you are talking about. I guess we just differ on the percentages. Good debate though,
I suspect provincial Premiers make their cases to the PM just fine, in the absence of a federal provincial conference. Conservative premiers are out for blood, not a decent conversation. At this point, I can’t think of one Conservative premier who is even moderately articulate or knowledgeable. Danielle Smith and Doug Ford come to mind quickly. They will leave their respective provinces in absolute ruins by the time they finish their tenure.
T. Flanagan. I’m still laughing at your gall, not to mention your stupidity. You would be destoyed by me, as would anh cosevative leader in Canada.
You are the reason that both the NNP and Grits will be destroyed in th coming-soon Ferderal Election.
In could spot you a mile away:- if I ever chose to look your way; …not. peter, from Oakville
Hi Peter: Three points:
1. Spell check is a wonderful thing. For example, I don’t believe we have an NNP party in Canada.
2. Perhaps refrain from calling a person you have never met and will never meet *stupid*.
3. Threatening a woman that you ‘would destroy’ her is dangerous territory.
Indeed.
It's been a while since I've had to intervene here, but I'm shutting comments down on this thread and, in future, I won't hesitate to revoke accounts of people who threaten or insult other subscribers.
the mainstream media, and the substack woods, are full of writers who think it's the height of cleverness to talk as if the Prime Minister's only thoughts these days are about getting re-elected, and that his thoughts rarely, if ever, turn to actual policy matters.
I was prepared to be disappointed with you for joining in with that line of thought.
Imagine my surprise when your piece actually turned to climate policy, as opposed to climate politics.
I share your nostalgia for the old days when politicians actually sat down and talked about issues that mattered, rather than simply posturing.
And your reminded that issues of constitutional change didn't start with Trudeau the elder, but many years before. And that nothing gets done in Canada without lots of talk, preferably talk leading to compromise, the essential political skill.
Let's hope some of the clever media commentators are reading your work and are embarrassed by their intellectual shallowness.
My guess is it doesn't work that way, unfortunately. At any rate, congrats for a good piece.
Good job Paul!
Sir: I do like your concluding paragraph, "If you skip the talking, you can persuade yourself of your own virtue, pretty much indefinitely, while everything collapses."
I think that you have pretty much described the current government and it's Pretender-in-Chief.
On the other hand, democracy is a truly dirty business when everyone is entitled to an opinion and is entitled to share that opinion, particularly when that opinion does not agree with the priorities of the Pretender-in-Chief. I guess that the thing that irks me most about the PiC is that he knows - just knows, I tell you! - that he is right and anyone who thinks otherwise is a dirty dog. And wrong. Or something like that.
The PiC and his acolytes and his various running mates believe that his interpretation is correct - it's existential I tell you! - and they refuse to allow democracy to occur. Unless, of course, it agrees with their version of The Gospel according to the PiC.
Yawn.
Unclear how Trudeau and his ‘acolytes’, who are people who are democratically elected, are indeed preventing democracy from occurring?
Well, they certainly aren't allowing the representatives of the provincial governments to make their cases in concert through the mechanism of a federal provincial conference.
Further, they decry, call down and heap incredible scorn on anyone - very much including other elected politicians - who has a contrary view. They want to vilify and deplatform any opponents to their various policies, etc.
Trudeau should show leadership and meet with the premiers in a closed door meeting over a few days and hash things out. Nova Scotia recently sent him their climate plan. What happened to it? Is Quebec meeting Trudeau's targets? Seems verboten to even ask. Trudeau seems to forget the premiers are representing their constituent's concerns. The sad truth is it is Trudeau's way or the highway. JWR learned that. Another great one Paul.
How about a meeting with the environmental ministers instead. A working group, not a blah, blah blah to get to be the next PiC.
Reminds of my time working at the United Nations. When friends came to visit my offices, all I could show them were meeting rooms of all sizes, plenty of them. It told them "at the UN, we meet a lot, it's what we do". No matter how unproductive, or how long it took to reach a consensus - the very fact of meeting is the 1st step in coming up with solutions that work.
Well said. The Liberal approach to climate change shows how unserious they are about it. They should have held a national summit every year since 2015 to build, fund, and update a coherent plan that would be acceptable across the country. If Alberta needs to be bribed to get onboard, so be it. Decarbonization is necessarily big and complicated and touches every part of everyone’s lives; everyone needs to be heard, everyone is a stakeholder. It’s a serious existential issue; it deserves serious political attention and not a small amount of palm grease.
Instead, this is treated like just another wedge issue: useful for rallying the troops, sloganeering, and kicking up political dust, but not intended to actually be solved. We can feel dopamine hits rallying behind Team Red or Team Blue while PEI slips under the waves.
I hope your line about the Clerks of the Privy Council sandbagging these meetings over money concerns is just snark. Or are these bureaucrats really trying to undermine coordination between our duly elected leaders because they don’t want to spend money? That’s not their job! We have duly elected officials who decide how to spend the money. That’s why they are elected! If the first ministers want to appropriate funds for a 50 foot tall gold statue of Polkaroo, that’s their choice to make.
Funny how history repeats itself. Harper favoured a carbon tax and for the last years of his being in power he refused to meet with the first ministers.
That makes me think it's less about whomever is in the PMs chair and more about the Privy Council bureaucrats who foster this sort of culture.
Canadians and their politicians are spending huge amounts of time, energy and money on reducing carbon dioxide emissions for nought.
Forest fires will burn even if the country met its. The rest of world despite talking take no real action and will never because no country can afford the cost of $40B battery plants making a vehicle component for vehicles that the normal family can never afford.
Canada would be respected more for investing $400M in equipping an artillery shell manufacturer for sales to those in need, Ukraine and Israel, readily come to mind.
You might even get all the premiers to support such an investment in Canada and with allies who have little respect for Canada in our current and long term condition.
Happy Budget Day! Another $40B in the hole. May all that is holy have mercy on Canadians!
Why would the Liberal Prime Minister meet with the Premiers? He wont. I fear this current PM believes he is now seen as "hypothetical Prime Minister".
Your final comment pretty summed up all of those above “you can persuade yourself of your own virtue”.
Maybe they can stage a retro style conference and it can be the stage it if or all to see.