Manitoba's premier pans PM's pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions

Manitoba's premier isn't impressed byOttawa's ambitious new goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

"I think people are tired of the target talk. I think they want to see action," Premier Brian Pallister said at an unrelated news conference Thursday to coincide with Earth Day.

The premier wasreactingto Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's commitmentto reduce emissions in 2030 byat least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, announced the same morning. Trudeau said Canada would "blow past" the 30 per cent reduction the federal government has previously promised.

In response, Pallistersaid Manitoba wants to do "more than our part" but the province has a long way to go toreduce its own emissions, critics say.

Manitoba is trying to cut emissions by a cumulative one megatonne between 2018 and 2022. The reduction target over the five-year period is 4.4 per cent of the 22.6 megatonnes Manitoba emitted in 2019 alone.

In fact, the province's emissions in that year were 9.8per cent higher than 2005 levels.

No choice: Hull

Curt Hull, project director at Climate Change Connection, brushed off a question on whether drastically cutting emissions below 2005is reasonable.

"We have to do it. That's the problem, is that we need to accept that we have to do it if we want toenjoy a climate that's consistent with the civilization that we are currently living in," he said in an interview.

Data shows greenhouse gas emissions in Manitoba are going in the wrong direction

3 years ago

Duration 2:06

People around the world are celebrating Earth Day today and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marked the occasion by making a big commitment to the environment. But as the CBC's Ian Froese reports, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister wasn't impressed.

Hull said Manitoba isn't showingenoughurgency.

He said governments all over have failed to meetprevioustargets because they didn'tback it up with a strong plan.

"In order to meet [Ottawa's]target, we're talking about having to reduce our emissions by about seven per cent every year, year upon year. But instead, if you look at the greenhouse gas emission trajectory that we've been on here in Manitoba, it's been increasing," Hull said.

He acknowledgedthe latest emissions datafrom the federal government shows Manitoba's emissions dipped slightly in 2019 to22.6 megatonnes after hitting a record22.9 megatonnes in 2018. Manitoba's green plan, conceived bythe Progressive Conservative government,took effect in 2018.

Minister of Conservationand ClimateSarah Guillemardtold question period on Thursday that the government has set emission reduction targets "that are achievable, attainable and we are already getting results."

Lisa Naylor, the NDP's critic on the file, replied that "this is not atimeto set the bar so low that you can reach it."

But Guillemard added it is "almost laughable" of theNDP to criticize the governmentsince the party didn't meet theiremission targets when they were in power.

The province has until 2022 to attain its emission reduction goal.

Hull said the provincial green plan doesn't prioritize curbing emissions. He said the government's Earth Day announcement of a $20 million endowment fund to improve provincial parks is part of the solution, "primarily in their ability to sequester carbon" but "it's not an annual expenditure."

He'd like to see the electrification of transit buses and a greater push for geothermal energy and more efficient buildings, amongother measures.

When the premier was askedabout Ottawa's new emission targets, Pallistercalled upon thefederal government to recognize the green investments Manitoba has already made, including on hydroelectricity.

He repeated his long-standing argument that Ottawa shouldn't have rejected Manitoba's proposed carbon tax plan when it permitted other provincial plans that he said aren't as stringent as his government's. Pallister is fighting the imposition of Ottawa's carbon tax in court.

"I'm going to take umbrage at any point about the federal government telling Manitoba how to clean up its act when the federal government needs to do a lot more in its area of concern."

Pallister added that Manitoba is "prepared to up our game, but we want to do it our way."

Later in the news conference, Guillemard cited a few of Manitoba's green plan accomplishments, such as creating a Crown corporation focused on energy efficiency, a conservation trust and raisingthe concentration of ethanol ingasoline and biofuel content in diesel to lead Canada by 2022.