Rapid-Fire Politics: Evan Solomon on the long road to a climate deal

When it comes to complicated issues like climate change, there’s a big difference between the prize and the process. For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the prize is getting Canada’s premiers to agree on a national price on carbon. He didn’t get it at the First Ministers meeting in Vancouver. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, for one, will not be entering those sweepstakes. But the process of getting to a national plan to curb carbon emissions is very much alive, and Trudeau did real work getting premiers to talk more deeply about how to get to that end. The road to saying Yes is always long when it comes to federal-provincial relations, but the road to saying No is short. As Evan Solomon sees it, Trudeau is likely happy, at the very least, to remain firmly on that long road.

Related from macleans.ca:

• Geddes: The art of the climate deal
• Off to a tense start: Justin Trudeau meets the premiers
• Wells: The insiders’ perspective on Federalism 2.0