Red, Green, and Blue

An Obama presidency in the United States could pave the way for a common North American approach to environmental issues and any differences on trade could be worked out, Canadian Conservative Party officials said in a recent interview.

Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said that the Canadian government has quite a bit in common with Obama and sees the two countries as strong partners in protecting the environment. “On the environment issue, I’m pleased to see a similar approach between Canada and the United States, and that probably augurs well for a common North American approach to the environment,” said Cannon.

But can the Canadian federal government, now run by the Conservative Party, shed its reputation as somewhat of a laggard in the realm of environmental policy and help forge a new way forward in North American environmental policy?

Despite its schizophrenic treatment of the climate change issue—and environmental protection more broadly construed—the Canadian government has made strides in recent years and now claims it has a plan to reduce carbon emissions. For that reason officials believe they will find common ground with an Obama administration that has pledged to make aggressive cuts in carbon emissions and increase federal investments in clean energy technologies.

A new paradigm in North American environmental policy?

The United States, for all intents and purposes, invented modern environmental policy. With the opportunity to learn from their neighbors to the south, the Canadian national government largely ignored policy developments in the U.S., preferring to delegate authority in environmental policy to the individual provinces.

But times have changed. The U.S. is no longer considered a leader in environmental protection, and as compared to their European peers, they could even be considered laggards. While the U.S. has stumbled, Canada is moving in the opposite direction. According to the Yale Environmental Performance Index, a quantitative gauge of pollution control and natural resource management results, Canada ranks 12th overall among 149 countries, largely on the strength of provincial stars like British Columbia. The same index ranked the U.S. at a disappointing 39th.

Both Canada and the United States ultimately rejected the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, arguing that the cost on the economy would be too great. While the U.S. is not a signatory, Canada was one of the earliest to sign the protocol. But Canada has since reneged on its obligations under Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, which declared the targets dead last year.

But Conservatives now say they have a plan to lower greenhouse gases three percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

Officials told the Canadian Press that the Conservatives are waiting for the Obama government to take over from U.S. President George W. Bush before beginning work towards an integrated carbon market.

Several Canadian provinces (as well as U.S. states) are already working towards regional cap-and-trade programs that could potentially be scaled-up to encompass a North American cap on greenhouse gases.

In July, Ontario joined the Western Climate Initiative, a market-based cap-and-trade emissions program expected to be in operation by 2010, that already included Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia and seven states in the U.S.

But some argue that the biggest potential for disagreement between the two countries is not on the issue of climate change, but rather in Obama’s stated desire to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement to strengthen labor and environmental protections.

Image: Ian Muttoo via flickr under a Creative Commons License

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