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ARTICLE · 24 FEBRUARY 2009

A Northern Warm Front: Canadian Climate Change Regulation Moves Forward

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Climate change remains among the most topical issues in Canada and has now become one of the country’s main sources of political debate.

CanadaEnvironment
Patricia Koval
Patricia Koval
Dennis Mahony
Dennis Mahony
Michael Pickersgill
Michael Pickersgill
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Originally published in The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.

Climate change remains among the most topical issues in Canada and has now become one of the country's main sources of political debate. In the 2008 federal election, a revenue-neutral carbon tax was central to the Liberal Party's platform, while the Conservative Party, which was re-elected as a minority government (with a greater number of seats than previously held), advocated the continued development of its intensitybased cap-and-trade regime, scheduled to come into force in 2010. Animating this debate were calls by citizens, businesses, litigants and institutional investors, urging government to take action to mitigate and adapt to the effects of global warming. This article summarizes the rapidly developing body of Canadian climate change regulation, with a particular focus on current trends.

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