WORLD / AMERICAS
Trudeau slammed over poll date
Canadian PM trails Tory rival as elections approach
Published: Sep 09, 2021 06:13 PM
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses party members at the Liberal Party campaign headquarters in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 21, 2019.Photo:Xinhua

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses party members at the Liberal Party campaign headquarters in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 21, 2019.Photo:Xinhua



Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau duked it out with Tory leader Erin O'Toole over climate change and the timing of Canadian elections amid the pandemic on Wednesday, in one of two pivotal debates as elections draw near. 

The environment is among the top issues cited by Canadians heading into the September 20 vote, while Trudeau has seen his support plunge after calling early elections. 

He now trails O'Toole in the polls 33.7 percent to 31.2 percent.

In a poignant moment in the French-language debate, a boy far too young to vote, but concerned about his future, asked the leaders how they would deal with warming.

Trudeau, who has campaigned on a green recovery, touted his plan to slash carbon emissions by hiking a carbon tax incrementally to Can$170 ($133) per tonne by the end of the decade, saying it has been judged the best by experts.

He accused the Conservatives of "going backwards" in endorsing a commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030, from 2005 levels.

The Liberals are the "only ones with a real plan to tackle climate change," he asserted, while assailing O'Toole over his pledge to revive a pipeline project from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific port of Kitimat.

O'Toole countered that a strong economic recovery is required in order to pay for environmental measures, and pointed out that the Trudeau administration has missed its emissions targets to date.

Jagmeet Singh, leader of the leftist New Democratic Party, also piled on, saying to Trudeau in regards to emissions, "In six years, you have the worst record of the G7."

Canada is the world's fourth largest oil producer, and the sector's emissions have stymied its climate efforts.

In March O'Toole found himself at odds with his rank-and-file after telling a party convention that a robust plan to tackle climate change was needed if the Conservatives ever hoped to unseat Trudeau.

Members instead voted down a resolution that said "climate change is real."

On Wednesday, the debate moderator pressed O'Toole to explain "how we can pollute less by consuming more" under the Conservatives' CO2 affinity program.

The party proposes creating "low carbon savings accounts" with points earned by spending on gasoline, for example, to be used to buy items from an approved green list.

Earlier in the debate Trudeau was forced into a defensive crouch for having pulled the plug on his minority government to force the snap elections. "Now is not the time for an election. Why in the middle of a pandemic did you call an election?" said O'Toole.

Trudeau has been accused of calling the election while high in the polls, hoping to regain a majority in the House of Commons.