Canada’s premiers met with prime minister Justin Tru-deau for a first ministers meeting in Ottawa Nov. 23 — the first time such a meeting has happened in seven years.
The first minsters conference came just days before world leaders are to descend on France Nov. 30 for the highly anticipated COP21 climate conference.
Canada’s premiers and Trudeau were tasked with figuring out what Canada will say on the international stage. The federal government has repeatedly insisted Canada must present a unified message and regain national respect on climate change issues.
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It’s unclear how Ottawa expects to earn that respect. At the time of writing, the meetings were ongoing.
While much of the Canadian conversation on emissions focuses on the energy sector and transportation, on the international stage agriculture assumes a much larger part of the climate change chatter.
The reason is straight-forward. Globally, agriculture accounts for one third of all emissions, released via actions such as deforestation to create farmland, tillage and gas emitted by livestock.
Several meetings on agriculture and climate change are planned for the Paris conference — including discussions around the Lima-Paris Action Accord. A livestock meeting, organized by the International Meat Secretariat, is set for Dec. 2.
Agriculture also has a role to play in Canada’s climate change discussion. Eight percent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions stem from agriculture, with crop production and livestock the main contributors.
Yet, the role Canadian agriculture might play in the Paris conversations and in Canada’s own climate change response remains vague.
Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne told reporters in Ottawa Nov, 20 that “we’re looking across all sectors” while considering its climate change response. She said her government will work with stakeholders and farm industries. Wynne is a former minister of agriculture for Ontario. She was speaking at the annual Canada 2020 conference with Quebec counterpart Philippe Couillard.
Addressing climate change was included in Trudeau’s mandate letter to agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay. MacAulay, Trudeau’s letter reads, must “support the Ministers of Natural Resources and the Environment and Climate Change to make investments that will make resource sectors world leaders.”
What that support will look like and how those policies fit in with current provincial efforts remains unclear.
Several provinces already have their own climate change strategies, including a carbon tax in British Columbia, a proposed carbon tax in Alberta and conversations around cap and a joint cap-and-trade system in Quebec and Ontario. Alberta also has several offset programs several of which are aimed at the province’s agriculture sector.
Finding a way to mesh those provincial strategies under a national umbrella is not an easy task; a challenge that is intensified under the COP21 spotlight.
Whatever strategy is developed, opinions from Canada’s agriculture and rural communities must be sought.
Stakeholder groups also insist the policy must take into account agriculture’s role in carbon sequestration, while also considering limitations (i.e. efforts can be made to make cows more efficient, but unless a major scientific discovery is made, methane will remain a part of cattle production.
In a word, it needs to be reasonable.
Canada’s agriculture sector has made efforts in recent years to reduce its carbon footprint, from the widespread adoption of no-till or reduced till on Canadian farms to improved feed efficiency in livestock.
Yet conversations around sus-tainability continue to dominate stakeholder meetings and policy discussions.
Is there more work to be done? Certainly, particularly given how little government attention has been given to the issue in recent years.
Canada’s agriculture sector has an opportunity to become a valuable ally in the fight against climate change thanks to carbon sequestration from pastures, forages and crop lands — a role government would be wise to recognize.
At the same time, Canadian farmers must recognize the new government is likely to champion the climate change file, a position that is undoubtedly going to influence its policy going forward.
Conversations between farmers and government officials need to start now.
