Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre refused to answer whether, if elected, his government would withdraw from the 2015 international Paris Climate Accords. Canada is one of the 96 countries that signed the Paris Agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France. The United Nations describes the treaty as “a legally binding international treaty on climate change.”Poilievre has been an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax, which increased 23% April 1, but has not renounced the climate change agenda. Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated in July his country will forge its own way on climate change and would not be participating in the Paris Accords, despite pledging in 2015 China would reduce its carbon emissions. Poilievre was asked if he would go beyond his 'axe the tax' campaign and formally withdraw from the Paris Agreement, which gives countries the right to tax its citizens in the name of saving the environment, while “giving China a pass.” Poilievre would not answer the question, but instead pushed for clean energy by giving permits to alternative, sustainable power services. “We will not be unfairly taxed on our emissions and I will not give China or any other country a pass,” said Poilievre. “We will reduce emissions and costs. But our approach is completely different than Trudeau’s. His is taxes. Mine is technology.” “My approach is to green light green projects. We need a massive abundance of clean, green, emissions-free energy by giving fast permits, responsible permits, for hydro dams, nuclear power, carbon capture and storage, off-shore tidal wave power.” “Abundant, affordable clean energy that brings down emissions and the cost of living.” .The UN’s Paris Agreement initial goal was to hold to an “increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”A more recent goal is limited to 1.5°C by the end of this century, due to the organization’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declaration that “crossing the 1.5°C threshold risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.”“To limit global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 at the latest and decline 43% by 2030,” the UN website states.
