Liberals’ environment strategy is unravelling

The Liberals’ environmental policies are falling apart, and they have nobody to blame but themselves.

For years, Canadians were told that carbon taxes, mandates, and regulations were beyond debate. If anyone raised concerns about cost, jobs, investment, or whether the policies were even working, they were treated like the problem. Now the same Liberal government is walking away from major pieces of that agenda. That does not prove Canadians stopped caring about the environment. It proves the Liberals’ policies were never as solid as they claimed.

Since being elected in 2023, I have sat on the environment committee. After hearing hours of testimony and speaking with experts from across the spectrum, one thing became clear. There has never been one unquestionable path forward on climate policy, no matter how often the Liberals pretended otherwise.

Their message was simple. Accept the carbon taxes. Accept the mandates. Accept the endless regulations. Pay more, give up more, and stop asking questions. When Canadians asked for relief at the pump, Liberals answered with hysteria.

Now, reality has caught up with them. The Liberals axed the consumer carbon tax. They scrapped the electric-vehicle mandate. They dropped the oil and gas emissions cap and clean electricity regulations. If the Liberals are now abandoning the same policies they once claimed were essential, while still missing their targets anyway, then Canadians were not asked to sacrifice for success. They were asked to sacrifice for a strategy that was never going to deliver.

Of course, Canada needs an environment plan. But it should lower emissions in the real world, not just make politicians feel virtuous while pushing jobs, investment, and production into countries with weaker standards.

That is where the Liberal story really falls apart. The world still uses oil and gas and will for years to come. The question is not whether those resources get produced. The question is where, and under what standards. Will that energy come from Canada, with stronger environmental rules, labour standards, and oversight, or from countries with weaker standards and fewer scruples?

Canadian liquid natural gas (LNG) can help lower global emissions if it replaces dirtier fuels such as coal. The choice is not between Canadian LNG and a fantasy world with no emissions. It is often between cleaner Canadian natural gas and dirtier alternatives other countries will use anyway.

A serious plan should reduce global emissions, not move them around. That is the problem with carbon leakage. When production is squeezed out of Canada, jobs and investment leave, but emissions often just show up somewhere else.

A recent RBC report found that from 2015 to 2024, more than $1 trillion of investment left Canada on a net basis. For every $1 that came in, about $2 left. In a country with our resources, workers, and advantages, capital headed for the exits.

Canada needs to build again. Pipelines. LNG facilities. Power generation. Transmission. Ports. Mines. Export infrastructure. We need an environment plan that treats responsible development as a strength, not something to apologize for.