A What is Happening in Canada? Event
Thursday, 06 November 2025 | 13:00 to 14:00 ET | Virtually via Zoom
With Debora L. VanNijnatten Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
Register here for the Zoom information
This lecture will examine the current moment in Canadian climate policy-making as the country faces difficult choices enroute to meeting its Net Zero targets, in a more uncertain continental and global context. On the one hand, Canada must respond to the climate policy retrenchment of its closest trade partner, the United States, with whom its economic prosperity is entwined. On the other, Canada is seeking deeper economic and policy alignment with the European Union, long a climate policy leader. Further, these conflicting policy impulses—to be a climate policy leader vs. abandoning Net Zero targets as unrealistic and incompatible with Canada’s economic well-being—are mirrored within Canada and especially across provincial administrations. In trying to navigate different alliances and conflicting policy impulses, how can Canada maintain course and continue to pursue greenhouse gas reductions?
This talk will be moderated by Kevin Spooner, Director, Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada (LCSC).
Debora L. VanNijnatten is Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is the editor/author of six books and has published more than 50 articles and book chapters—all in the area of environmental policy and governance. She has been writing on Canadian climate policy for 20 years, both in terms of mitigation efforts and transboundary cooperation with the U.S. Her current research in this area focuses on ‘Net Zero’ as a scientific concept, policy instrument and political target, and actively interrogates the utility of Net Zero in reaching our climate goals in Canada, North America and Europe.
For more information: robarts[at]yorku.ca or at this link.
This series is made possible by the participation of the Centre for Indigenous and Critical Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University, the Canadian Studies Network, the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada, the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, and the School of Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies at Trent University, with the support of the International Council for Canadian Studies.