The Future of Canadian Climate Policy — with Marc Lee

Co-Director of the Climate Justice Project at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and senior economist, Marc Lee, joins Am Johal to discuss the successes and failures of Canadian climate policies across the political spectrum. Marc speaks about the origins of the Climate Justice Project, and conceptualizes how reaching a net-zero carbon economy can be achieved — through a fundamental restructuring of Canadian and BC systems, and the implementation of decolonizing practices. Am and Marc also discuss how approaches like carbon pricing and carbon capture systems do little to counteract climate change, and instead offer "escape hatches" for the fossil fuel industry. They explore how other government-based responses like subsidizing pipelines, or setting climate goals for the distant future, do not adequately address the imminent threat of climate change. Marc ends by discussing how we need to deal with this climate emergency with the same level of urgency that was enacted in BC's COVID-19 response.