For at least an hour or two this morning, Justin Trudeau will be preaching to the choir.
The prime minister is addressing the opening plenary session of the Globe clean tech conference in Vancouver, alongside B.C. Premier Christy Clark, where they will sing the gospel of environmental innovation and the global investment and job opportunities that come with it.
CBC News will livestream their speeches.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also met reporters this morning ahead of the Vancouver first ministers meeting and were asked about the conversation to come about carbon pricing in the different provinces.
"The question is how do we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, how do we tackle climate change as a country and what is the magnitude of the problem we are confronting?" Wynne said.
"As we have that conversation then we talk about what each of us are doing in our own provinces, then we get to the mechanisms and what is the most efficient mechanism province by province, territory by territory. I think if we've had that initial discussion about agreeing on the magnitude of the problem then we'll be able to move to how are we actually going to do this?"
Money for municipalities
Trudeau will commit some $150 million to two new clean tech funds in an effort to spur faster industry growth.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is getting $75 million from Infrastructure Canada for climate change initiatives in communities, he announced during his speech.
The federal government is also spending more than $50 million "to improve climate resilience in design guides, and building and infrastructure codes."
Trudeau used his speech to the conference to talk about the ties between environmental and economic prosperity, as he did the previous day.
"Canadians have made some strides already, but we have a lot of work to do to become the global leaders we ought to be," he said.
"Last year, for example, was the most successful year ever for renewable energy investment, with almost $350 billion invested worldwide. Nearly half of that was invested in the U.S. and China alone. But on that measure, Canada has fallen behind."
It's the optimistic and widely appealing upside of the global low-carbon transition that 195 countries signed on to in Paris at COP21, the United Nations climate conference in December.
But the difficult, fractious and immediate realities of that transition appear likely to intrude before Trudeau's day is over.
Premiers from all 13 provinces and territories, along with indigenous leaders, are in Vancouver today and Thursday to begin hammering together a pan-Canada climate policy framework.
There are more than a few bruised thumbs and discordant notes already.
Indigenous groups have complained the invitation list was not wide enough. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has levelled a series of broadsides at the federal Liberals' promised carbon pricing. And Quebec managed to inflame much of western Canada — again — with an ill-timed court intervention in the contentious Energy East pipeline project.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, third right, is shown a Veemo velomobile, a tricycle enclosed in an aerodynamic body with a built-in electric motor, before speaking at the launch of the Smart Prosperity initiative in Vancouver, B.C. Tuesday. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
Injunction bid 'unfortunate coincidence'
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard took pains late Tuesday to assure reporters in Vancouver that his province really wasn't joining the court fight to shut down the $15.7-billion project, but was only attempting to assert provincial environmental jurisdiction.
"This is not a message for or against the project," Couillard said.
"It's a message based, notably, on a recent decision from the Supreme Court of British Columbia which states that provinces must have their say on pipelines that pass through their territory via their environmental assessment process — even with interprovincial pipelines."
Couillard described the timing of the court intervention on the eve of the premiers' meeting with Trudeau to discuss climate policy as an "unfortunate coincidence."
By then, Wall — who is seeking re-election in Saskatchewan in just more than a month — had already sounded off.
"Why slap an injunction against (Energy East) except if it is about environmental politics and I think it is going to be divisive," said Wall.
Rachel Notley, the Alberta premier who doesn't face the electorate this spring, was somewhat more restrained but still fired a rhetorical warning shot, saying she plans to "leave the gun in the holster until we are actually at the gunfight, and we are not there right now."
Business more proactive?
The key to bringing the fractious premiers together might be foreshadowed by Trudeau's Globe conference appearance: Talk up the economic opportunities and bring a cheque book.
For the investors, inventors, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and non-governmental organizations from some 50 countries attending the biennial Globe conference, going green has taken on a market-oriented hue.
Thousands line up at opening of Globe 2016 to hear PM Trudeau speak #fmm2016 http://pic.twitter.com/cSSPEULZQO
— @Mcdiarmm
Many participants at last year's Paris climate conference commented on the almost trade show-like atmosphere of the gathering.
"It was a different COP than any of the other COPs I've been to," said Mike Gerbis, the president of Globe foundation.
"Business was around there wanting to take action, rather than trying to stifle the negotiations."
This week, Trudeau received some unsolicited advice from 50 B.C. clean tech industry executives, who wrote an open letter touting the estimated $1 trillion in global investment that is anticipated from the low-carbon transition.
"The only question is whether Canada will be a buyer or a seller," wrote the executives.
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