Joe Vipond
November 20th 2025
“Canada’s back,” we cried with glee — a progressive leader, finally returned to COP21 in Paris back in 2015. And indeed we were, with dramatically more constructive engagement in international climate negotiations than the previous government. Unabashedly running on a climate-focused agenda, the Trudeau Liberals won the support of Canadians through two more elections in 2019 and 2021. And yet today, under a new leader, we as a country have arrived at COP30 with empty hands, expressly moving backwards on almost every climate policy we’ve put in place since Paris. Is the new phrase, “Canada’s left the building”?
Liberals (and Canadians) may have grown tired of Trudeau and replaced him with the central banker Mark Carney, but underlying both the leadership race and the general election was the assumption that there would not be a gutting of the country’s climate plan. Canadians still care about the climate, with support for policies hovering around 60 to 70 per cent in recent polling, including recent polling from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. And Carney seemed to have a deep enough understanding of the urgency of the crisis that he wouldn’t pull the rug out from under… well, everything.
The Conservatives, although not outright denying the climate crisis, sure seem keen to build pipelines in all directions while madly drilling for more oil and gas. Carney, on the other hand, has spent the last decade championing climate causes, as UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. He even wrote a speech in 2015 as a warning for all bankers to heed: the climate crisis urgently threatens the core of our financial stability.
Big words for a banker.
And he wrote a book. A book called Value(s), in which climate plays a big role. From digging deep into the classic Tragedy of the Commons, to a call for reintegrating environmental and social values into economic decision-making, he really seemed to “get it.” And Canadians trusted he would take those value(s) into his policymaking.
So what happened?
Since the election, there has been a systematic dismantling of (or threats to dismantle) almost every policy that would accelerate our energy transition to a climate-safe economy and society. Starting with the admittedly poorly managed consumer price on carbon, moving on to the removal (temporary? Or not?) of the EV mandate. The budget threatens removal of the emissions cap on the oil and gas industry — Canada’s largest emitter at almost 30 per cent of total emissions and rising — as well as a revision of one of the world’s strongest greenwashing legislations, administered by the Competition Bureau.
Approaching the world’s climate conference, COP30, talk of a new oil pipeline increased. And then right smack-dab in the middle of it, instead of attending the multilateral talks on climate action, Carney announced support for yet another Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) plant. On top of a similar announcement two months ago, for another LNG plant.
Since the election, there has been a systematic dismantling of (or threats to dismantle) almost every policy that would accelerate our energy transition to a climate-safe economy and society, writes Joe Vipond
It’s… a lot.
What’s left is a meagre helping.
An industrial carbon price will have to do most of the heavy lifting. And methane regulations, which can act as the emergency brake for the climate due to its greenhouse gas potency. Both regulations are in dire need of strengthening if there is any chance Canada might achieve our international commitments. Yet our sense of urgency seems to be diminishing despite rising extreme heat, wildfires, floods and other climate-related disasters.
And this U-turn on climate has been noticed by the international community. The fossil of the day is awarded by global civil society to a country seen to be actively hindering climate negotiations. Once a regular recipient pre-2015, on Tuesday Canada was awarded this ignoble prize, solidifying its reputation as a back-slider in this existential crisis.
Canada likes to pretend it values natural spaces and clean air and upstanding behaviour. But it seems when the money hits the road, the government seems to only care about the stock values of its oil and gas companies.
The country is slipping into the robe of a petrostate, just like all the other petrostates. Recurrently overheard is the phrase" “the last barrel of oil will be an (insert country name here) barrel of oil.”
All of the countries can’t be right. And the race to pump out oil and gas at all costs will soon ensure our natural spaces — our ecological support system — will have zero value.
Dr. Joe Vipond is an emergency doctor in Calgary, the past-president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and a board member of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. He is currently in Belem, Brazil, attending the COP30 climate conference.
November 20th 2025
“Canada’s back,” we cried with glee — a progressive leader, finally returned to COP21 in Paris back in 2015. And indeed we were, with dramatically more constructive engagement in international climate negotiations than the previous government. Unabashedly running on a climate-focused agenda, the Trudeau Liberals won the support of Canadians through two more elections in 2019 and 2021. And yet today, under a new leader, we as a country have arrived at COP30 with empty hands, expressly moving backwards on almost every climate policy we’ve put in place since Paris. Is the new phrase, “Canada’s left the building”?
Liberals (and Canadians) may have grown tired of Trudeau and replaced him with the central banker Mark Carney, but underlying both the leadership race and the general election was the assumption that there would not be a gutting of the country’s climate plan. Canadians still care about the climate, with support for policies hovering around 60 to 70 per cent in recent polling, including recent polling from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. And Carney seemed to have a deep enough understanding of the urgency of the crisis that he wouldn’t pull the rug out from under… well, everything.
The Conservatives, although not outright denying the climate crisis, sure seem keen to build pipelines in all directions while madly drilling for more oil and gas. Carney, on the other hand, has spent the last decade championing climate causes, as UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. He even wrote a speech in 2015 as a warning for all bankers to heed: the climate crisis urgently threatens the core of our financial stability.
Big words for a banker.
And he wrote a book. A book called Value(s), in which climate plays a big role. From digging deep into the classic Tragedy of the Commons, to a call for reintegrating environmental and social values into economic decision-making, he really seemed to “get it.” And Canadians trusted he would take those value(s) into his policymaking.
So what happened?
Since the election, there has been a systematic dismantling of (or threats to dismantle) almost every policy that would accelerate our energy transition to a climate-safe economy and society. Starting with the admittedly poorly managed consumer price on carbon, moving on to the removal (temporary? Or not?) of the EV mandate. The budget threatens removal of the emissions cap on the oil and gas industry — Canada’s largest emitter at almost 30 per cent of total emissions and rising — as well as a revision of one of the world’s strongest greenwashing legislations, administered by the Competition Bureau.
Approaching the world’s climate conference, COP30, talk of a new oil pipeline increased. And then right smack-dab in the middle of it, instead of attending the multilateral talks on climate action, Carney announced support for yet another Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) plant. On top of a similar announcement two months ago, for another LNG plant.
Since the election, there has been a systematic dismantling of (or threats to dismantle) almost every policy that would accelerate our energy transition to a climate-safe economy and society, writes Joe Vipond
It’s… a lot.
What’s left is a meagre helping.
An industrial carbon price will have to do most of the heavy lifting. And methane regulations, which can act as the emergency brake for the climate due to its greenhouse gas potency. Both regulations are in dire need of strengthening if there is any chance Canada might achieve our international commitments. Yet our sense of urgency seems to be diminishing despite rising extreme heat, wildfires, floods and other climate-related disasters.
And this U-turn on climate has been noticed by the international community. The fossil of the day is awarded by global civil society to a country seen to be actively hindering climate negotiations. Once a regular recipient pre-2015, on Tuesday Canada was awarded this ignoble prize, solidifying its reputation as a back-slider in this existential crisis.
Canada likes to pretend it values natural spaces and clean air and upstanding behaviour. But it seems when the money hits the road, the government seems to only care about the stock values of its oil and gas companies.
The country is slipping into the robe of a petrostate, just like all the other petrostates. Recurrently overheard is the phrase" “the last barrel of oil will be an (insert country name here) barrel of oil.”
All of the countries can’t be right. And the race to pump out oil and gas at all costs will soon ensure our natural spaces — our ecological support system — will have zero value.
Dr. Joe Vipond is an emergency doctor in Calgary, the past-president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and a board member of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. He is currently in Belem, Brazil, attending the COP30 climate conference.
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