It really seemed like Justin Trudeau’s political future was in peril this time. This scandal was too massive. These implications were too damaging to too many Canadians. No politician – no matter how wily or photogenic – could avoid the repercussions.
Or so we thought.
The scandal, with all due respect to the intrigue of SNV-Lavalin, is Canada’s inaction on climate change.
Shortly after a federal report illustrated that Canada could see 10 times as many deadly heat waves, twice as many extreme rainstorms, and the loss of our permafrost due to climate change, we heard even more alarming noise from Canada’s Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand.
In short, Gelfand pointed out that while the climate is changing, we aren’t.
We aren’t on track to reach our 2030 greenhouse gas emission targets. We aren’t doing all we can to promote investment in clean energy. And, according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Canada is still offering more than $1.2 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel companies.
We’re like a condemned man offering to help pay for the cost of the rope.
And so we waited for an ambitious politician to use that scandal to further their own political ambitions.
Instead, we were treated to a succession of selfies of politicians at gas pumps, advising Canadians to fill their tanks before the carbon tax came into effect. That tax was previously assailed for not altering behaviour enough.
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer vowed to scrap what he dubbed an unfair tax. What he failed to offer was a solution.
Trudeau is in a scandal. The problem is, we’re all stuck in it with him.
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