Scheer Walks Back Commitment to Canada’s Paris Agreement Target

Federal Opposition leader Andrew Scheer has shifted his position on implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement, backing away from an earlier commitment to unveil an environment plan that includes steps to meet Canada’s targets under the global deal.

“What I’m telling you today is, our plan will have meaningful reductions,” Scheer said in late December, in an interview on CTV’s Question Period public affairs show. After host Evan Solomon pressed him not to “dodge” the question, his answer was essentially unchanged.

The remarks “signals a shift in Scheer’s position,” CTV reports. “During an interview on CTV’s Question Period on April 29, the Conservative leader pledged that his yet-to-be-unveiled plan for the environment would reach the Paris targets.”

“I will unveil a plan that reaches the targets that we have already voted in favour of,” he said at the time. “We will have a meaningful plan to reduce emissions, and that will also tackle other major environmental issues.”

Since then, CTV notes, Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna “has regularly tweeted updates on the number of days that have passed since Scheer promised to unveil a plan to meet the Paris targets.”