Canada will work with California to fight climate change and protect the environment, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
This partnership on climate action and nature protection goes further than a 2019 agreement between Canada and California on reducing vehicle emissions, and will work to “deliver clean air and water, good jobs and healthy communities,” according to a joint statement.
Both leaders point to similarities in current policies in Canada and California, including efforts to ban harmful single-use plastics, commitments to clean electricity and healthy oceans, and nature conservation .
The agreement will encourage the sharing of information and best practices as the world faces a shrinking window to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But this announcement also comes as gasoline prices are at record highs and inflation poses major challenges on both sides of the border.
The press conference of MM. Trudeau and Newsom came amid a busy second day for the prime minister at the 9th Summit of the Americas, being held this week in Los Angeles. Mr. Trudeau will meet President Joe Biden on Thursday, then participate in the first plenary session of leaders of the countries of the Americas. He is also due to meet the president of Argentina, before sitting down with Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
The day before, Mr. Trudeau had spent the day meeting with leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean, to discuss ways to help them achieve their sustainable development goals.
Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, says Canada should use Thursday to bring its own needs to the table. ” The world changes […] and in response, new alignments are taking shape,” said Hyder, who wants Ottawa to be more assertive with the United States on bilateral issues.
Supply chains are changing in real time, thanks to the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and governments are realizing that the private sector has a key role to play, he added.
Canada should therefore ask itself: “How are we going to partner? How are we going to fight climate change? What are we going to do about supply chain integrity? suggests Hyder.
“These are things we can work on together, the public and private sectors […] We must learn and do more if we are to help Canada navigate an extremely complex world. »