Pass the Climate Change Accountability Act, Bill C-311

C-311 Background:

- This bill would set national greenhouse gas emission targets for Canada that align with scientific assessments of the emission reductions needed to have a chance of avoiding dangerous climate change. The bill would also require the federal government to take the necessary steps to ensure the targets are met.

- The Climate Change Accountability Act would set national emission targets that represent Canada’s fair share of the global effort to prevent dangerous climate change. Thus, a decision by
Canada’s Parliament to adopt these targets would send a strong signal to the world that Canada intends to do its part in tackling global warming and protecting the most vulnerable people from its devastating consequences.

- Economic analysis produced by M.K. Jaccard and Associates, a prominent Canadian modeling firm, shows that Canada can reach a science-based emissions target in 2020 while growing its economy by 2% per year and creating over one million net new jobs.

- It is also notable that the 2050 target in the Climate Change Accountability Act is identical to President Barack Obama’s 2050 target for U.S. emissions.

- On June 4, 2008, this bill (then known as C-377) won support from a majority of Members of
Parliament and was referred to the Senate for consideration. As Parliament was dissolved in the fall of 2008, the bill was not able to complete the legislative process.

- On February 10, 2009, Bruce Hyer, New Democrat Deputy Environment Critic and MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North, seconded by Jack Layton, reintroduced it as a Private Member's Bill, renamed as Bill C-311. After months of delays, a contentious request by the House Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development for more time to consider C-311 was granted with the Official Opposition supporting the government on an Oct 21, 2009 vote in the House of Commons. Passage of the Climate Change Accountability Act was therefore effectively delayed until 2010, meaning it would not influence the government in negotiations at the UN COP15 global climate change treaty negotiations held in December 2009 in Copenhagen.

- In its previous iteration, the Climate Change Accountability Act was introduced and championed by the leader of the New Democratic Party, Jack Layton. While we commend Mr. Layton and the NDP for this leadership, we believe that Canada’s national emission targets are far too important to become a partisan question. All parties in Canada’s Parliament have stated their support for climate action, and all Members of Parliament and Senators must play a responsible part in preventing dangerous climate change.

- Thus, we call on all parties in Canada’s Parliament to work together and pass this essential piece of legislation before the summer recess.

- The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable
Development gave this bill extensive consideration at committee stage last year. Since then, neither the bill itself nor the science underlying it has changed, although the passage of time has made it even more urgent.

- The bill alone is not the whole answer for Canada’s climate policy. It sets and enforces national emission targets, but it leaves the preparation of plans to meet those targets to the Minister of the Environment. And while strong targets for industrialized countries are an essential ingredient for a successful outcome within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, so too is financial support from developed countries for tackling climate change in developing countries, an issue that is not included in this private member’s bill.