It’s time for a roadmap to emissions reductions that puts our communities and our planet on the path to good health and sustainability. Under Liberal and Conservative governments, Canada is not even on track to meet the modest targets we already have - let alone the stronger ones required to prevent dangerous climate change.

A New Democrat government will declare a climate emergency and put in place ambitious, science-based greenhouse gas reductions targets that will help stabilize the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. We’ll put these targets in legislation and ensure accountability by creating an independent Climate Accountability Office to do regular audits of progress towards our climate goals.

The defence of our planet cannot be a partisan matter – we all need to be pulling together.  Future generations will expect no less from us. ~Gord Johns

Recognizing that putting a price on carbon is an important tool to drive greenhouse gas reductions at the source, we will continue carbon pricing, including rebates to households that fall under the federal backstop plan, while making it fairer and rolling back the breaks this Liberal government has given to big polluters.

The federal government can also model change by becoming a trail-blazer in energy efficiency, clean technologies, and renewable energy use. We will lead by example and procure from Canadian companies producing clean technology, ensure that federal buildings use renewable energy, and move the vehicle fleets of the federal government to electric by 2025, choosing made-in-Canada wherever possible.