Steve MacLellan

Advocacy groups have expressed concern that the Liberals were not just changing their tone but their plans for the environment due to a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, but Wilkinson says that’s not the case, and he’s working on an ‘ambitious’ climate plan. (Reuters)

The pandemic has forced some changes to the government’s broader plans. As reported this week by La Presse, the government has not yet planted any of the two billion new trees it promised in last year’s campaign. Wilkinson links that to the fact that there wasn’t a federal budget in the spring.

Wilkinson said the government should be able to move forward with climate change accountability legislation in the fall or early in the new year. An expert panel to advise on the path to net-zero emissions by 2050 is also expected in the “near term,” and Wilkinson said the government should have more to say about plastics in the “next couple months.”

The Liberal platform already committed the government to meaningful action on building retrofits and promoting the use of zero-emission vehicles. As far as a plan to exceed the 2030 target — part of the Paris Agreement on climate change drafted in 2015 — Wilkinson also mentioned the use of hydrogen to fuel heavy-duty transportation and working with industry, including oil and gas, to reduce emissions.