22 | LEXPERT • June 2017 | www.lexpert.ca/usguide-corporate/
In December 2016, Canada's federal government introduced the pan-Canadian
framework on clean growth and climate change (PCF), which seeks to implement
carbon tax or cap and trade regimes throughout Canada by 2018. The introduction
of this framework endeavors to fulfill government objectives related to Canada's ratifi-
cation of the December 2015 Paris Agreement at the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties, with the goal of reducing
global temperature increases.
The pan-Canadian framework is very much a work in progress. "Each province and
territory has or will have its own, often very different, greenhouse gas reduction legisla-
tion and regulations," says Bob Booth, a partner with Bennett Jones LLP in Calgary. As
a result, he says, it will not likely lead to a harmonized regime across all provinces and
territories in Canada, but an equivalence standard will apply.
Linda Bertoldi, a partner with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Toronto, says the
framework reflects several of the federal government's objectives: namely, to stimulate
the economy, and also fulfill its pledges in terms of reducing emissions and adapting
to climate-change issues. She says the government is trying to transition Canada to a
low-carbon economy, while recognizing there are multiple ways to achieve these goals.
"The government is trying to provide guidance," says Bertoldi, "but still allow for a lot
of innovation and creativity within that framework."
For US companies and their in-house counsel who do business in some parts
of Canada, cap and trade or carbon tax is not new, says Booth. "Some provinces —
namely, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Québec — have, for some time, had
carbon-tax or carbon-emission regimes in place, so some domestic and US business-
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
Framework
OF OPPORTUNITY
Canada's new framework
on clean growth and climate
change is designed to stimulate
the economy and fulfill pledges
to reduce emissions and adapt
to climate-change issues
BY BEV CLINE
