Canada's Climate Crossroads: Will Carney deliver real progress?

Outrage + Optimism

Persephonica

Science, Finance, Energy, Policy, Business, Green, Society, Current Affairs, Climate, News, Planet, Society & Culture, Environment, Climatechange, Nature, Parisclimateagreement, Globalwarming

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is Canada a climate leader or a fossil-fueled dinosaur? And what will the recent ascension of Mark Carney as Prime Minister mean for the country’s climate agenda - both domestically and on the world stage?

In the second of our country deep-dives, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac speak with Catherine McKenna, Canada’s former Minister of Environment and Climate Change, to discuss the mixed history, uncertain present and possible futures of the nation’s climate record.

As Canada’s representative at the COP 21 negotiations in Paris, Catherine set the tone for the decade that has followed, during which time the country has increasingly engaged in international climate leadership. Back home, she also spearheaded an innovative carbon pricing system, which, though not always popular, attempted to shift the nation away from its fossil fuel dependency while delivering an economic net benefit for most Canadians.

While former Bank of England and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has become widely known as a climate progressive, his first act in office was to end this carbon tax, leading many to question how his climate ideals will fare in the face of political reality. Catherine reflects on why the tax was scrapped, and the lessons that must be learned if we are to defend climate action.

Along with Paul Dickinson, Christiana and Tom consider the challenges facing former Outrage + Optimism guest Carney as he takes the helm of one of the G20’s highest emitters, and ask if we’re witnessing a wider backlash against corporate net zero commitments.

Learn more

📚Read: U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s letter seeking information about the Department of Justice and FBI investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and the reported freezing of grant money awarded from that fund.

🏭 Mark Carney’s statement on his decision to scrap the carbon tax

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Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks

Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan

Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford

Commissioning Editor: Sarah Thomas

This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm getting Christiana occasionally freezing.
0:03.0	Is that my internet that's doing that?
0:05.1	Christiana's permanently freezing in this country, by the way.
0:11.2	Hello and welcome to outrage and optimism.
0:13.2	I'm Tom Ravittconic.
0:14.3	I'm Christiana Figueres.
0:15.6	And I'm Paul Dickinson.
0:16.8	This week, as part of our country profile focus,
0:19.2	we're going to be asking the question,
0:20.6	is Canada still a leader on climate change?
0:23.1	And we speak to former Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna.
0:26.2	Thanks for being here.
0:28.2	Okay, friends, so delighted to have Catherine back on the podcast.
0:31.0	She'll be with us in about 20 minutes.
0:32.4	But before she gets here, we thought we might set up this discussion a bit by looking at Canada,
0:38.3	one of the world's great climate leaders. And the first question is, is that true? Justin Trudeau obviously came in
0:44.8	just before the Paris negotiations and together with Catherine really changed the narrative,
0:49.3	which made a big difference, I think it's fair to say, in the momentum that led to that agreement.
0:53.6	But the
0:54.3	intervening years since then have told a somewhat mixed picture. His narrative has been impressive
0:58.7	on the world stage. Canada's emissions have barely budged. The policies have been impressive,
1:03.4	but to some degree they've led to pushback. So let's get into all of that. Now, before we go any further,
	...

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