EDITORIAL: Liberals' $200B climate plan needs forensic audit

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The Liberal government’s latest report on Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions raises serious questions about what we’re getting for the Liberals’ $200-billion plus program, ostensibly to fight climate change.

Something we’ll never get the answers to if Mark Carney and the Liberals win the April 28 election.

Reports on Canada’s emissions are always two years after the fact and last month the feds said Canada’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 totalled 694 megatonnes, 8.5% below 2005 levels.

While that’s slightly down from the 2022 level of 700 megatonnes, the Liberal government’s target is to cut emissions to at least 40% below 2005 levels in 2030.

Canada’s emissions in 2005 were 759 megatonnes, meaning the Liberals’ target for 2030 is 455 megatonnes annually.

To meet that, Canada would have to cut our emissions, based on the latest data, by 239 megatonnes in 2030.

That’s the equivalent of eliminating all current annual emissions from Canada’s transportation sector (157 megatonnes) and buildings sector (83 megatonnes) in seven years.

The only way to achieve that would be for the government to provoke a massive economic recession.

In the real world, it’s an unachievable target.

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That raises the issue of whether taxpayers are getting good value for money spent, totalling more than $200 billion, distributed by the Liberals through 150 government programs administered by 13 federal departments to reduce emissions.

The total number of programs ostensibly aimed at reducing emissions increases to 202 if you include joint agreements between the feds and the provinces and territories.

An investigation by auditor general Karen Hogan of the now-disbanded $1-billion Sustainable Development Technology Fund, aka “the green slush fund”, suggests many of these programs may be rife with fraud.

Others, according to environment commissioner Jerry DeMarco, lack transparency and may be overestimating and/or double-counting emission cuts, as well as basing their calculations on outdated computer modelling.

Given Carney’s plan to continue imposing carbon taxes on Canadians through the Liberals’ industrial carbon tax and by imposing tariffs on many imported goods — raising prices for Canadian consumers — this $200 billion-plus fiasco cries out for a forensic audit.

Especially given that parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux has reported that Canada’s emissions — at 1.5% of the global total — are too small to materially impact climate change.