Last week, the federal government announced Canada’s 2020 greenhouse gas emissions dropped, in part thanks to trees removing carbon from the atmosphere. However, environmentalists are quick to point out this calculation excludes a huge chunk of emissions from the logging industry.
Canada cut its greenhouse gas emissions by nine per cent in 2020, but whether that is indicative of a long-term trend or merely a product of the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be seen.
Fighting climate change has been one of Canada's top priorities under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government has pledged to cut emissions 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, those who fail to learn from their climate polluting history are doomed to repeat it, writes columnist Barry Saxifrage.