Throne Speech: fighting climate change and building long-term competitiveness with clean growth

Throne Speech: fighting climate change and building long-term competitiveness with clean growth

Today Governor General Julie Payette delivered the Speech from the Throne, formally opening the second session of the 43^rd Parliament of Canada. In the speech the Governor General outlined the four foundations of this government’s approach:

1. To fight the pandemic and save lives
2. Supporting people and business through this crisis, as long as it lasts, whatever it takes
3. To build back better to create a stronger, more resilient Canada
4. To stand up for who we are as Canadians

The third foundation of the Government’s approach, to build back better, includes fighting climate change and building long-term competitiveness with clean growth. This is great news for clean energy and the energy efficiency industry and it appears we can expect Government to quickly bring forward a plan to exceed Canada’s 2030 climate goal and legislate Canada’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. While specifics will be released at a later date, the Throne Speech highlighted these areas as part of its plan:

• Creating thousands of jobs retrofitting homes and buildings, cutting energy costs for Canadian families and businesses;
• Investing in reducing the impact of climate-related disasters, like floods and wildfires, to make communities safer and more resilient;
• Helping deliver more transit and active transit options;
• And make zero-emissions vehicles more affordable while investing in more charging stations across the country.

You can read the full transcript of the Throne Speech here: https://www.canada.ca/en/privy-council/campaigns/speech-throne/2020/stronger-resilient-canada.html.