Justin Trudeau shows ‘lack of leadership’ by skipping climate-change conference, critics charge

“He could come to COP27 to set a new standard for climate leadership — cancelling the TMX pipeline, reversing the Bay du Nord decision, cancelling all fossil fuel subsidies while expanding forest protections.”

In 2019, Trudeau’s government committed to a $7.4-billion expansion of the TMX oil pipeline that runs from Alberta to the B.C. coast, which would boost its capacity to almost one million barrels a day. The Bay du Nord deepwater oil project off eastern Newfoundland was approved in April.

COP27 is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expected to attend.

Canada will be represented by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, joined by Catherine Stewart, the country’s climate change ambassador, and Steven Kuhn, the federal government’s chief negotiator for climate change.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not offer any details Thursday as to why Trudeau is not going, but told the Star the prime minister “led historic new commitments from Canada on global climate action” in last year’s summit. The delegation led by Guilbeault will focus on implementing those commitments this year, it said in a statement.

In addition, it said Canada will host the COP15 conference on biodiversity in Montreal in December, “underscoring our government’s ongoing commitment to fighting climate change and protecting nature both here at home and around the world.”

Trudeau’s November itinerary will see the prime minister on the road from Nov. 12 to 20 to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Cambodia, the G20 Summit in Indonesia, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Thailand, and the Eighteenth Summit of La Francophonie in Tunisia. COP27 runs from Nov. 6 to 18.

Laurel Collins, the NDP critic for environment and climate change, said the level of political representation to tackle greenhouse gas emissions is less important than commitment to promises.

“It doesn’t matter who shows up if you don’t put in the work that’s needed,” Collins told the Star. “Justin Trudeau just keeps giving oil and gas CEOs billions of dollars in subsidies instead of fighting the climate crisis.”

But one critic suggested Trudeau should attend the summit, not only to show Canada’s commitment to its goals, but also to show he fights for the well-being of Canadians who have been hit by wildfires, floods and extreme weather linked to climate change.

“Prime Minister Trudeau’s absence from COP27 would suggest that he does not recognize the mountain still in front of his government,” said Julie Segal of the advocacy group Environmental Defence.

“Canada has a good climate plan but has not delivered results to cut emissions. In fact, Canada is the only G7 country where emissions keep increasing — now is not the time for our government to rest on its laurels.”

The Green Party’s environment critic Michelle Bowman said Trudeau’s decision not to attend COP27 “is totally unacceptable but not surprising given Canada’s embarrassing record on climate action.”

Guilbeault said in a statement that Canada “will continue to push for the acceleration of concrete climate actions to reduce emissions and enhance resilience in communities and economies as the world faces the brunt of climate change impacts.”

According to the environment department, Canada has committed $5.3 billion over five years to climate change, released a strategy to reduce emissions across the economy by more than 40 per cent by 2030, and plans to be net zero by 2050.

COP27 is the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The annual conference oversees members’ progress in addressing climate change.

This year’s conference will see 190 countries gather to discuss meeting shared goals.