It's the quintessential “easier said than done situation”, but we haven't really tried in a meaningful way, at least not in the last decade. Commencing that conversation across federal-territorial-provincial governments is the important first step in putting those numbers forward. You could even have a first go in a Kyoto-like pledge system, in which everyone comes to the table and says, “Look, this is what's possible.”
What's different now from a decade or so ago, including under the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, is that you do have a clear federal policy and federal intentions that are aligned with this act but you also have an emerging recognition right across the country, including in the west, that we are, like it or not, on a path to decarbonization. All one has to do is look at the IEA report from just a couple of days ago.
The fundamental difference between Canada and somewhere like the EU is in the economic makeup of the country. Canada's oil and gas sector is such a significant part of the economy that it has made that conversation a non-starter. That is changing, and everyone recognizes that right across the country, so the table really is set to have that conversation toward that kind of effort-sharing agreement in a way that it hasn't been before.
That may sound a little bit rosy, but really there are not many other options. It's time to tackle the elephant that has plagued Canada's implementation of climate commitments for decades.