Since becoming Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau's government has only declined emissions by 5% while oil revenue is up by over 20%.
This morning, Statistics Canada released its natural resource indicators for the first quarter of 2023.
GDP from oil extraction is up about 1.5% over the past year. However, it is up almost 22% since the Liberal government under prime minister Justin Trudeau took over at the start of 2016.
In rhetoric, the Liberal government contrasts the previous government under Conservative Stephen Harper.
In the last federal election, the prime minister referred to his government's carbon tax and single-use plastic ban as "not nothing."
But while Trudeau continues to assure Canadians that Canada will somehow meet international climate targets, oil companies continue to increase their revenue and profits despite the Liberals holding nearly no seats in Alberta, where oil extraction occurs.
A 2021 study published in Nature says that nearly 60% of oil and gas reserves must remain in the ground for the planet to avoid 1.5 degrees of global warming.
The IPCC also says that developed countries will need to cut their emissions by about half below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2040 to ensure a future of warming of only 1.5 degrees.
Canada's most recent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data point is 2021. From 2016 to 2021, GHG emissions only declined by about 5%.
When pressed about Canada's slow transition from oil extraction, the environmental minister Steven Guilbeault says they are waiting for consumers to make the switch.
"Oil is still in demand, so better it comes from Canada than elsewhere...," he said on CBC News Network last year.
Canada is one of the developed countries most reliant on air travel as there is no high-speed rail. The trains that exist are almost entirely run on fossil fuels, as only 0.2% of rail lines in Canada are electric.
And although cars are slowly becoming electric, 92% of the top-selling vehicles in Canada are large gas pickup trucks and SUVs. Most consumers are certainly not eager to switch.
The Yale Program on Climate Change released an international report earlier this month polling individuals from many countries about the issue of climate change.
About 60% of Canadians said climate change will cause a great deal of harm to future generations. Meanwhile, only about 20% said they believe global warming will cause a great deal of personal harm to them personally.