A Cleaner, Greener Future: The Liberal Climate Plan

August 29, 2021

Cambridge, Ontario – A re-elected Liberal government will move forward to accelerate climate action for more jobs, cleaner communities, and less pollution.

The Liberal climate plan is a jobs plan. It is building, and will continue to build, a green recovery to create jobs and grow the middle class, while ensuring a cleaner future for our children and grandchildren. Climate change is the greatest long term threat of our time, but it is also our greatest economic opportunity — and Canada has the skilled workforce, innovative spirit, and natural resources at our fingertips to succeed. But we need to keep moving forward.

“A serious plan for the environment is a plan for the economy,” said Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. “We have done more to fight climate change and protect our environment than any other government in Canadian history, and our plan has created new jobs and growth across the country. But we can’t stop now. We can’t go back to the inaction of the Harper years. A cleaner and greener future is within our reach.”

A re-elected Liberal government will accelerate climate action to continue to create more jobs, cleaner communities, and less pollution:

• More jobs: We will create new, middle class jobs for Canadians by making Canada a world leader in batteries to power the clean economy, helping industries adopt clean technologies to cut pollution, and supporting all workers to ensure no one is left behind.
• Cleaner communities: We will create cleaner communities with cleaner air, by providing $5,000 toward zero emission vehicle purchases for over half a million Canadians, building 50,000 more zero emission vehicle chargers, requiring at least half of all passenger vehicles sold in Canada to be zero emission by 2030 and all to be zero emission by 2035, and charting a path toward net-zero buildings across the country, which will help Canadians save on their energy costs.
• Less pollution: We will build a net-zero electricity grid by 2035, ensure we drive down emissions from oil and gas to meet our shared goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, and continue to phase-out coal by ending thermal coal exports by 2030.

This builds on the work that the Liberal team has been doing since 2015 to fight climate change and grow the economy, by:

• Putting a price on pollution and more money in the pockets of hard working Canadians;
• Making zero emission vehicles more affordable and accessible for Canadians, through rebates of $5,000 and more charging stations across the country;
• Investing historic amounts in public transit, supporting over 1,300 projects;
• Protecting a historic amount of our nature, including lands 3.5 times the size of Nova Scotia; and
• Advancing a ban on harmful single-use plastics and moving forward with our plan to end plastic waste by 2030.

“Even with wildfires increasing in frequency and severity across western Canada, Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives deny the existence of climate change,” said Mr. Trudeau. “If Erin O’Toole is in charge, it’s no surprise he would take us backward on climate action – and the good jobs that go with it. We can’t afford to go back to the Harper years that left workers behind and put our future in danger. We need to keep moving Canada forward – for everyone.”

Backgrounder: More Jobs. Less Pollution. Cleaner Communities.

For more information, please contact:
media@liberal.ca
613-627-2384