• DOI:10.1080/09644016.2016.1140280
• Corpus ID: 155153475

This changes everything? Canadian climate policy and the 2015 election

@article{MacNeil2016ThisCE,
  title={This changes everything? Canadian climate policy and the 2015 election},
  author={Robert MacNeil and Matthew Paterson},
  journal={Environmental Politics},
  year={2016},
  volume={25},
  pages={553 - 557}
}

• R. MacNeil, M. Paterson
• Published 27 January 2016
• Political Science
• Environmental Politics

On 19 October 2015, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party shocked the pollsters, the electorate, and probably itself by rocketing from 34 to 184 seats and securing one of the most robust parliamentary majorities in a generation (albeit with only 39.5% of the vote). For advocates of climate action both domestically and globally, change of government in Ottawa was overdue. While Canada had never excelled as a climate leader, the 10 years of Conservative rule were especially gloomy. During this period, Canada’s reputation among non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and partner states reached rock bottom, as the Harper government developed a reputation for deliberately holding up global climate negotiations and competing with Australia to have the weakest climate policy of any industrialised state. In the wake of the Liberal party’s victory, many commentators have been optimistic that Ottawa is about to turn over a new leaf on climate. While the new government certainly hit the ground running – making a series of announcements and playing a highly visible role at COP21 in Paris – the change of leadership and rhetoric may mask important continuities in the Canadian economy and political system that could leave environmentalists disappointed yet again. In this brief review, we look at what a Liberal majority might mean for Canadian climate policy over the coming years.