Green government would cancel pipeline projects, move to renewable energy

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MONTREAL – Green Leader Elizabeth May says her party’s climate change plan would cancel proposed pipeline projects and transition Canada’s energy infrastructure to a carbon-free grid system.

Speaking at an event in Montreal on Thursday, May said the Green plan would modernize Canada’s electricity grid to supply renewable energy across the country.

She said a Green government would scrap existing gas projects, including a $9-billion project to pipe natural gas to Quebec’s Saguenay region.

May also reaffirmed her party’s pledge to cancel the $13-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and redirect the funds to building the national electricity grid.

The Green leader also cast doubt on Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s promise to make Canada carbon neutral by 2050, saying his government already bought a pipeline and has not altered its carbon target for 2030.

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She added her party won’t prop up a minority government after the Oct. 21 election if it’s not prepared to take climate change seriously.

“There’s no way in the world we could imagine ever voting confidence in a government – any combination of parties or a government – that doesn’t have a committed plan, that’s verifiable, to hold global average temperature increase no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. That’s not negotiable,” she said.

She said Canada needs to avoid a climate “tipping point” by aggressively reducing greenhouse gas levels by 2030.

The announcement comes a day before hundreds of thousands of people are expected to join a march in Montreal and elsewhere across Canada as part of an international day of protest over climate change.

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