When North Vancouverites last went to the polls in 2019, none of us had even heard of COVID-19. It was before the coronavirus pandemic had completely upended our society in countless ways. Climate change had yet to deliver the worst year of extreme weather in recorded history.
It's difficult to pinpoint another two-year span in which our world has changed so radically. The decisions to be made about our future course will resonate for many years to come.
As we have seen from the intensity of debate during this election campaign, there are distinct differences between the direction each political party would take Canada as we emerge from the pandemic – particularly on the most important issues of the day.
First – how we end the pandemic. Vaccination remains our best chance of slowing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting our economy from further lockdowns.
That is why our party supports mandatory vaccines for federal workers and anyone on federally regulated airplanes or trains, plus a national vaccine passport and legislation to protect businesses from legal recourse if they ask for proof of a COVID-19 vaccination. During the campaign, Justin Trudeau has become a target of those who disagree with this approach.
The Conservatives, on the other hand, oppose vaccine mandates – relying instead on rapid testing for those who are unvaccinated. Erin O’Toole refuses to disclose how many of his candidates are vaccinated and only belatedly confirmed Conservative health minister would be.
Though I’m hearing on the doorstep that the election call was not popular with some, I believe providing Canadians with a choice on something as critical as how to end the pandemic is the right thing to do.
The same principle applies to pandemic lessons about senior care and the need for national standards and $10/day daycare to help more parents enter the post-pandemic workforce – both of which the Conservatives reject.
On the existential issue of climate change, the differences between parties have never been so stark as Mr. O’Toole’s recent rejection of Canada's new higher international commitment for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in favour of a lower one first set by Stephen Harper.
His pledge comes as Canada prepares to attend the United Nations Climate Change conference this fall where countries are expected to commit more ways to tackle the issue – not less.
Rolling back our target and walking away from our international partners on climate change will once again make Canada a climate outlier.
Canadians expect their leaders to take this issue seriously and to propose real climate action – concrete, detailed plans that will move us towards targets informed by science. Such action has been a central part of my work in Ottawa on your behalf.
Canada now has a comprehensive, science-aligned climate plan which includes: an increasing price on pollution, phasing out coal power, creating a net-zero electricity grid by 2035, mandating declines in oil and gas emissions to net zero, requiring all cars sold to be zero-emissions vehicles by 2035, banning harmful single-use plastics, creating a net-zero electricity grid by 2035, planting two billion trees and working to protect 30 per cent of our lands and oceans by 2030 in close collaboration with Indigenous communities.
These are issues I know are close to the people of North Vancouver and they are precisely the kind of issues that motivated me to enter politics and first ask for your support in 2015. As I look back, I see that we have made real progress. But any sense of satisfaction is overshadowed by how much more remains to be done – on climate, biodiversity, housing, reconciliation, social inequality, economic productivity and more.
In closing, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the people of North Vancouver for the trust you have placed on me in the past. I have always believed and continue to believe that trust is a commodity that must be earned and re-earned every day