Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco described Canada's record on climate change as "so shoddy."According to Blacklock’s Reporter, while testifying before the Senate Energy committee, the commissioner rejected cabinet claims that Canada is a climate leader.“I’m not saying we’re doomed to failure just because our past performance has been so shoddy,” testified DeMarco. “If we bend the curve down and reach these targets, then my reports will become more positive, but I will still be reporting on it.”“Canada is the only G7 country that has not achieved any emission reduction since 1990,” said DeMarco. “Taking meaningful action to reduce emissions is that most impactful thing Canada can do to play its part in addressing the global climate emergency.”“Solutions exist, such as renewing the government’s fleet with zero-emission vehicles or implementing effective fiscal and regulatory measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said DeMarco. “The problem is that available solutions are being implemented much too slowly. That needs to change now.”In an April 20 report Emission Reductions Through Greenhouse Gas Regulations, the commissioner criticized Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault's department for not adequately assessing the actual impacts of climate policies. This included areas such as tailpipe regulations on new vehicles and stricter controls on coal-fired electricity plants.“The federal government does not know whether it is using the right tools to reduce emissions,” wrote DeMarco.“We found that because of the significant difficulties involved in attributing emission reductions to individual regulations the department of environment could not estimate whether any regulation had its intended effect,” said the report. “We note this weakness could affect the department’s ability to make timely decisions.”“The list of failures grows longer yet again,” DeMarco earlier told reporters. “It’s not about counting widgets.”“We say this in the context of 30 years of them missing every target,” said DeMarco. “The ‘just trust us, it’ll all add up’ doesn’t work until they actually start showing that they’re able to meet a target.”“It’s not a matter of, ‘Oh, we’re falling short of our reductions and we’re getting fewer reductions than we hoped for,’” said DeMarco. “We haven’t had any reductions. We are up 14% since 1990.”“All the other G7 nations are down in their emissions, some of them by quite a bit,” said DeMarco. “So there is no track record of Canadian emissions reductions. There’s only been a track record of increases in greenhouse gas emissions.”DeMarco's comments came after the Environment department released a National Inventory Report on April 14. The report acknowledged that greenhouse gas emissions had increased by 12 million tonnes in 2021, which was the most recent available data, despite the implementation of rising carbon taxes.The data showed that annual emissions declined in 2020, but this reduction was primarily attributed to travel bans and pandemic-related lockdown orders.
