Canada Climate Policy

Remember when NDP candidate Linda McQuaig said, "some of Alberta's oil wealth would have to stay in the ground in order to meet Canada's climate change targets"?

The remark was treated as a scandalous revelation by her political opponents.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, cited estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that only between a fifth and a third of proven oil reserves can be burned if humanity is to avoid catastrophic climate impacts

"If that estimate is even approximately correct it would render the vast majority of reserves 'stranded' — oil, gas and coal that will be literally unburnable without expensive carbon capture technology, which itself alters fossil fuel economics," he said 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said : "We know, and with Paris it's very clear, where the world is going"

"We're going towards a zero carbon economy. The question is, does Canada want to drag its feet on it or do we want to be part of it?"

But Trudeau also maintains new oil pipelines to spur oil sands development are compatible with this low-carbon future. He argues the transition requires investment and innovation, which is dependent on a robust economy.

Why is it compatible?

It sounds a bit like having your cake and eating it too; not so different from the Conservative government's mantra of balancing the environment and the economy.