Submission to the Vancouver Declaration Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Groups

This is a submission to the Vancouver Declaration Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working GroupsThe key issue which must be addressed by the Vancouver Declaration federal-provincial-territorial process is the need for agreement on how the total cost of meeting Canada’s 2020 and 2030 international commitments to greenhouse gas emission reductions will be shared among the provinces and territories. Our research has shown that the basic question of what a national program will cost their province was top of mind for provincial officials during the previous National Climate Change Process (NCCP) 19982002. Based on comments to date from Premier Wall and others we are sure it is again today. However, if it is not addressed explicitly there is no opportunity to negotiate an agreement. Instead, provinces sufficiently worried about the cost will simply opt out of the process. To address this issue, we recommend the Vancouver Declaration process be amended by adding a fifth Working Group with a mandate to address the issue of equitable sharing of reduction costs among both sectors and provinces