Speech from the Throne's environmental commitments: appearance before the Standing Committee (November 4, 2020)

Q. What are the environmental priorities of the government identified in the Speech from the Throne?

• While the Government’s number one priority remains to protect Canadians from Covid-19, the Speech from the Throne made clear that we must take bold action on multiple interconnected fronts: the economy, equality, and the environment.
• In this context, the Government intends on making climate action a cornerstone of its plan to support and create a million jobs across the country.
• Overall, the Speech from the Throne outlined 20 key commitments related to the environment.
• These include, among others, commitments to:
  • Exceed Canada’s 2030 climate goals
  • Legislate Canada’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050
  • Continue policy of putting a price on pollution, while putting that money back in the pockets of Canadians
  • Use nature-based solutions to fight climate change, including by planting two billion trees
  • Invest in reducing the impact of climate-related disasters
  • Protect a quarter of Canada’s land and a quarter of Canada’s oceans in five years
  • Create the Canada Water Agency
  • Modernize the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA, 1999)
  • Ban harmful single-use plastics next year and ensure that more plastic is recycled