Althia Raj: Why Mark Carney’s government is using Stephen Harper’s talking points to fight young people in court - Toronto Star

Mark Carney’s government is arguing in court that it is not bound by its own Net-Zero Accountability Act.

The government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has faced increasing pushback on several key pieces of legislation.

Althia Raj is a national politics columnist for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @althiaraj

Monday evening, in what was once a Bank of Montreal, Prime Minister Mark Carney dined across from his guest of honour, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whom he seated next to former prime minister Stephen Harper.

It is not the first time Carney has signalled close ties to Harper. In September, Harper gave the closing remarks at Carney’s Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, where he framed Carney’s agenda as a continuation of his own.

If that wasn’t already obvious — from omnibus bills to his energy-sector focus — it was even more so last week. 

As Carney hosted the Crown Prince in Ottawa, in a Vancouver Federal Courtroom, where a group of young people are taking the government to task for failing to live up to its climate commitments, a government lawyer echoed Conservative talking points as they argued against a law Justin Trudeau’s Liberals passed intended to tie the hands of future governments on climate action.

Federal lawyer BJ Wray repeatedly told Justice Simon Fothergill that “climate change is a global problem that can only be remedied with a global solution.”

The case comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government continues to give itself the power to skirt environmental laws.