Climate, refugees top first ministers’ agenda
Canada’s strategies for combating climate change and accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees by year’s end are expected to dominate discussion when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and premiers gather Monday for a first ministers meeting.
The prime minister’s get-together with the premiers, to be held in the Ottawa area, will be the first time in nearly seven years that Canada’s first ministers have officially convened.
It comes at a critical juncture in the early days of the Liberal government.
Trudeau called the meeting so the federal, provincial and territorial governments can discuss Canada’s strategy going into the United Nations climate-change conference in Paris that starts Nov. 30.
More than 190 countries from around the globe will try to finalize a post-2020 agreement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
Trudeau also has invited the premiers and federal opposition leaders to join him in Paris, as the federal government promises to work with the provinces on a new national plan for tackling climate change.
At Monday’s meeting, the federal cabinet and premiers will receive a climate briefing by some of the country’s top climate scientists, followed by a working dinner.
Trudeau has said the dinner will see the leaders “exactly discuss the kind of strong and cohesive message we will be delivering as Canadians in Paris at the very important COP 21 (climate-change) conference.”
However, the federal government won’t release Canada’s updated greenhouse gas targets at the Paris conference, and will instead talk with the provinces over the coming months to craft what it hopes will be ambitious, but realistic targets, and a plan for achieving them.
“This framework won’t be imposed unilaterally. And the actions won’t be one-size-fits-all, because that approach doesn’t work,” Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna said Friday during a speech in Ottawa.
“Instead, different provinces – with their different circumstances – will be empowered to find their own best way to make their contribution and get us closer to achieving our national goal.”
Getting all the provinces and territories on the same page for resettling Syrian refugees also will be tricky, with some premiers voicing concerns about security and whether the refugees can be properly screened in such a time crunch.
The Liberal government has promised to settle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year and is frantically trying to finalize a plan for screening, how to get them here, temporary lodging on the ground and providing the necessary services once they arrive. Details were to be announced Tuesday.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall wrote an open letter to Trudeau last week asking him to suspend the government’s plans to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of the year, and to reevaluate the promise and blueprint for achieving it.
“Your desire to help these people is noble,” he wrote. “However, if even a small number of individuals who wish to do harm to our country are able to enter Canada as a result of a rushed refugee resettlement process, the results could be devastating.”
Saskatchewan, nevertheless, will set up a refugee settlement centre to co-ordinate the arrival of Syrian refugees.
Wall asked in the letter that federal officials provide premiers with an intelligence briefing on the terrorist threat that exists in Canada and how the federal government plans to ensure no Islamic Statetrained operatives are able to enter Canada.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said Canada has an obligation to open its doors to Syrian refugees and tried to allay concerns over security.
“What we can’t give in to, I think, is allowing security to mask racism. That’s the danger,” Wynne said.
Couillard said racism, unfortunately, exists in Canadian society, and “it is the responsibility of political leaders not to feed the fire.”
The last first ministers meeting was held in early 2009, when thenprime minister Stephen Harper and premiers gathered to discuss the economy following the 2008 global financial crisis.