How can the Liberals best fight climate change?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a meeting with premiers in Ottawa to update the country’s position on greenhouse gas reductions before they jet to Paris for the latest United Nations climate summit in early December. With provinces holding numerous policy levers on environmental action – and having very different agendas depending on their resource base – getting everyone pulling in the same direction has proved challenging.

“We will examine the proposals from Bombardier, the minister will make a decision, and we’ll ensure that any decision taken is in the best interest of Canadians based on a strong economic case”, Trudeau told reporters.

In addition to Clark, the offices of Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Ontario’s Kathleen Wynne and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard immediately confirmed their attendance at the November 23 meeting to the Canadian Press.

Many of them will also accompany Trudeau to the UN Conference of Parties, which opens with more than 115 heads of state and government in the French capital on November 30, aiming to secure a deal to stave off catastrophic climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

Many, many questions remain to be resolved.

That same order – to rid the workplace of harassment and discrimination – is issued to Liberal House leader Dominic LeBlanc who must improve conditions in Parliament and to National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, a Sikh whose own appointment was met by a racist comment within the armed services.

– How soon will the Liberals begin to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, as promised in their election platform “over the medium term”.

The prime minister says he’s looking forward to meeting and speaking with the Queen on his way to Malta near the end of the month.

Environmental groups have been hounding the Liberals on pipeline policy, asserting any new pipeline capacity will boost Alberta oilsands production and undercut Canadian action on emissions.

“Today we are demonstrating that real change in government is possible”.

Bombardier, they noted, has “already received well over $2.2 billion in taxpayer support from the federal government over the years”.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story.