LOS ANGELIS –
Canada will work with California to tackle climate change and the environment, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.
The Partnership for Climate Action and Nature Conservation goes beyond the 2019 agreement between the two jurisdictions to reduce vehicle emissions and will work to “deliver clean air and water, good jobs and healthy communities” , said in a joint statement.
The two leaders cited similarities in current policies, including efforts to ban harmful disposable plastics, commitments to clean electricity and oceans, and nature conservation plans, and said the agreement restores existing relations.
“This cooperation simply defines our efforts, especially with regard to electrification, as it is linked to the loss of biodiversity – often forgotten in the debate and debate on climate,” Newsom said.
The governor said California was a “stable partner” in climate action, no matter who was in the White House, adding that “it will not be decided in California, it will not be decided in the United States.” This will require sharing knowledge, exporting values and opportunities. “
The deal will encourage the sharing of information and best practices as the world tackles a narrowing window to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Asked what would change significantly with the signing, Trudeau instead named a Canadian company working in California to electrify school buses and heavy vehicles as a result of signing the 2019 deal.
“The agreements we are signing here are for working together and creating opportunities and following up on things like nature conservation, investing in clean technologies and especially plastics,” he said.
This also comes when gas prices have reached record levels and inflation and affordability are key concerns on both sides of the border.
Trudeau’s press conference with News is in the middle of a busy second day of the America’s Summit.
He met with President Joe Biden and will later take part in the first plenary session at the meeting leader level.
He also met with the President of Argentina before sitting with Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company.
On Wednesday, Trudeau spent the day talking to Latin American and Caribbean leaders to help their countries achieve their sustainable development goals.
Goldie Haider, president and CEO of the Canadian Business Council, says it may be time to put Canada’s own needs on the table.
“The world is changing and new alliances are being formed in response,” said Haider, who wants Ottawa to become more assertive with the United States on bilateral issues.
Supply chains are changing in real time thanks to the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and governments are realizing that the private sector has a key role to play, he added.
Canada needs to ask itself, “How are we going to partner? How will we deal with climate change? What are we going to do with the integrity of the supply chain? ”Haider said.
“These are things we can work on together, the public and private sectors – we need to learn and do more than that if we want to help Canada navigate its path through an extremely complex world.”
On Wednesday, Trudeau spent the day focusing on the ever-present challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean – challenges facing the United States and Canada in the form of economic constraints and migratory pressures.
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Motley described a “triple crisis” in her country: the lasting economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising fuel and food costs exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, and the climate impacts most acute in Ukraine. small island nations like her.
Motley suggested it was time for the rest of the world to take these concerns more seriously.
“We don’t expect things to change right away,” Motley said.
“But what we expect is justice, what we expect is transparency, what we expect is that just as we want to see people here, we want people to see, feel and hear us.
Motley and Trudeau later took part in a roundtable discussion with leaders from Chile, Belize, Ecuador and Jamaica, where they heard complaints about financial institutions that could do more to support growth in the developing world.
It is vital that democracy flourishes in small and developing nations and that their citizens share the rewards and realize the benefits.
“We need – as unanimous countries, but frankly, as a world – we need democracies to succeed,” Trudeau said.
“In order for democracies to succeed at a time when they are withdrawing, when they are under pressure from all over the world, we need our citizens to feel this success.
Promoting economic success and social stability at home is a key part of a strategy to prevent another problem facing the hemisphere: the constant migration of potential refugees making their way to the Mexican-US border.
“No one leaves home because they want to, they leave because there are no opportunities – because they face poverty and insolvency,” said Foreign Secretary Melanie Jolie after the first of two planned meetings with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
“We need to look at creating opportunities in our hemisphere. We need to give people confidence that they can live in their own country, have access to services, a good education for their children and good health. “
Canada’s goal, she added, was “to make sure that some of these countries’ concerns will be addressed by our American friends.”
Canada is using the summit to push for “urgent action” to tackle climate change, another key factor in boosting migration, and is seeking funding initiatives to help countries in the region.
Promoting gender equality and fostering the economic and democratic growth that comes with it is another pillar of the Canadian summit’s strategy.
Jolie and her Chilean counterpart have already pledged to tackle gender-based violence and online harassment, an initiative launched at Biden’s summit for democracy leaders last year.
Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States are already on board.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 9, 2022.
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