Former finance minister Bill Morneau questions if it's the 'right time' for emissions cap following Trump re-election

Following the re-election of former U.S. president Donald Trump, former finance minister Bill Morneau says the Canadian government should re-evaluate the timing of some cornerstone Liberal policies.

Following the re-election of former U.S. president Donald Trump, former finance minister Bill Morneau says the Canadian government should re-evaluate the timing of some cornerstone Liberal policies, such as the oil and gas sector emissions cap, in order to better align with its southern neighbour and its new incoming administration.

“I would question whether putting caps on emissions right now is the right time,” Morneau said in an interview that aired Sunday on CTV’s Question Period, adding he would be “very careful” in thinking about the emissions cap, considering “the context of the broader North American relationship.”

Morneau — who headed up Canada’s finance portfolio during the previous Trump administration and throughout the free trade agreement renegotiations — said a lot has changed geopolitically since Trump’s first term.

“Energy security is going to be critical,” he told host Vassy Kapelos, while also pointing to defence, technology, and the economy, as sectors that will have to be looked at.

“So, as I go through those one by one, we will need to think about how we get to our defence spending targets more rapidly than the government has currently laid out. We're going to need to think about whether we focus on energy security in a way that makes us clearly an important part of the U.S. sector that way,” he added. “And that means we have to ask ourselves, ‘is it really the right time for caps on emissions?’”

Instead, he said, the Canadian government should be looking at other ways to meet its climate goals.