Every hour spent relitigating settled ground is an hour not spent helping communities prepare for the next wildfire, the next flood or the next storm. When politicians use climate policy as a political football, it's Canadians who pay the price. It's farmers who lose their crops, it's families who are losing their homes to wildfires and it's small business owners who can't afford the rising insurance premiums. If we don't act now, it's the next generation that will inherit a world that is less stable, less safe and less prosperous.
We also need to recognize that moving past this gridlock is not just an environmental imperative. It's an economic one. The global economy is transitioning. The race to a net-zero future is on, and countries that lead the transition will secure the jobs, the investments and the prosperity of the 21st century. If we allow partisan bickering to slow us down, Canada will—