Introduction
Canada is a major global producer of oil and gas, two of the resources associated with the highest levels of environmental degradation. Additionally, Canada’s oil production practices have been labeled as unconventional, majorly due to the oil sands becoming a source of these products. Fossil fuels cause massive emissions, which are responsible for climate change. Globally, countries have signed environmental treaties to help reduce the devastation. This essay argues that Canada is a major contributor to climate change and its environmental policies are inadequate in resolving the environmental problems.
Climate Change
Climate change has become a major environmental problem that has been recognized globally. The international recognition is manifested in the international climate change treaties, including the 2016 Paris climate agreement and the 1996 Kyoto climate change agreement (Wellstead 166). Climate change is a term used to imply the long-term shifts in the weather patterns and temperatures, which are majorly caused by human activity. Examples of human practices causing climate change include burning fossil fuels, which emit GHGs. Additionally, clearing forests and other industrial emissions have caused a significant rise in global temperatures. The effects of climate change have included melting polar ice, rising sea levels, and permeant changes in weather patterns.
Canada’s role in climate change is as significant as all those countries extracting, refining, and consuming oil and natural gas products. Canada ranks among the top five in the production of these products, which means that it ranks the same in terms of contributions towards climate change. However, it is important to acknowledge that the extraction levels have fluctuated across multiple regimes because each of them had different environmental protection policies. According to Carter et al., the rise in production levels coincided with the Harper administration that lasted between 2006 and 2014 (63). This government promoted oil and gas development and supported the energy policy that rested heavily on private-led resource extraction. Climate change can be viewed as a compromise between energy and environmental policies because no resource utilization has zero environmental detriments. In other words, increasing extraction activities is directly proportional to the levels of environmental degradation. As will be discussed in the section below, Canada’s climate change mitigation has been ineffective because the unconventional practices pay little attention to this problem.
Before exploring the Canadian environmental policy, it is important to understand how climate change affects the country and its people. First, Canada has been experiencing rising temperatures with the highest ever being witnessed in the summer of 2021. To illustrate the dangers of such changes, the extreme weather killed over 500 people in Canada alongside over one billion marine animals (FutureLearn). Forest fires have also been on the rise as a result of the heatwave. Considering that Canada’s forests constitute 9% of the global forest cover and 38% of Canada’s landmass, the destruction will only cause a further deterioration of the climate and further destruction of animal and plant life. A vicious cycle is established where the fires cause further emissions of GHGs, which would cause more heat waves and then more forest fires. Additionally, the country is also rapidly losing massive amounts of arctic ice due to high temperatures. All these will cause further devastations on the plant and animal life and the future survivability of all life on the planet.
Canada’s Environmental policy
Canada is a signatory to several global climate change agreements, which should illustrate the country’s commitment to addressing environmental concerns. Examples include the 2016 Paris agreement, which resulted in the development of a Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (Wellstead 166). However, Canada’s environment policy does not appear to have the desired stability to enforce the necessary actions. The country’s policy changes can be traced back to a few decades ago where the need to conserve the environment first became a public policy issue. Reforms on environment policy were witnessed as early as the 1980s and 1990s, some of which became major reference points for more recent attempts by the government to implement protection measures. For Instance, a task force initiated by the Chretien government called ‘Strengthening our Policy Capacity made several recommendations on what should be an ideal policy based on the 1980s and 1990s reforms. Examples include more public participation, policy research, specialized policy analysis skills, and horizontal policy coordination (Wellstead 166). However, it is the recent rise in extraction activities that raise concerns over the degree to which the policies are implemented, especially with greater privatization.
The Harper administration can be criticized for eroding Canada’s commitment to environmental protection. The argument presented by Carter et al. is that the government pursued the energy policy, which was intended to make the country an energy superpower (63). The ‘substantive policy action towards mitigation of climate change was implemented, which included removing the perceived environmental constraints. Previously, the extraction activities were governed by centralized environmental regulations that were revised by the Harper government to include more restrictions to public participation. This explains why more privatization and extraction activities rose during this era, which is also the first time that rapid increases in GHG emissions were first recorded. Therefore, the environmental policy has been weakened over time to allow the country to pursue its environmental goals.
Regulatory streamlining is currently taking place across the provinces, where the primary focus is to remove duplications. Approval processes are standardized and regulatory practices are further revised (Carter et al. 66). However, it is increasingly difficult to pinpoint the policy actions specifically intended for environmental protection. Therefore, it can be argued that Canada has had environmental regulations that have been overpowered by the energy policy. The prioritization of energy extraction has meant that previous restrictions have been removed to allow the private sector to increase its output levels. Decentralized regulation means that the provincial authorities can pursue independent policies depending on what each government prioritizes.
Conclusion
Canada is one of those countries that have experienced the real implications of climate change. The heatwave in the 2021 summer resulted in multiple deaths and billions of marine creatures also suffered fatally. The country can claim to commit to international climate change agreements. However, the actions of the government, including policy revisions, illustrate that Canada neglects its duty towards the environment in the pursuit of energy supremacy. Further revisions are being implemented to include more decentralization and the removal of environmental constraints. In simpler terms, the environmental policy has been overridden by the energy policy. Such a move means that while the country will increase its energy production, environmental degradation will continue to rise and climate change and its effects will persist.
Works Cited
Carter, Angela et al. “Environmental Policy Convergence in Canada’s Fossil Fuel Provinces? Regulatory Streamlining, Impediments, and Drift.” Canadian Public Policy, vol. 43, no. 1, 2017, pp. 61-76.
FutureLearn. “Climate change in Canada – Impacts and Responses.” 2021. FutureLearn. Web.
Heyes, Anthony et al “The Economics of Canadian Oil Sands.” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, vol. 12, no. 2, 2018, pp. 242-263.
Wellstead, Adam. “From Fellegi to Fonberg: Canada’s Policy Capacity Groundhog Day?” Canadia Public Administration, vol. 62, no. 1, 2019, pp. 166-172.