Climate change is real. It’s an urgent problem. Scientific data presented in the recent “Canada in a Changing Climate” report makes it clear that our country is warming at twice the global rate. In Canada’s North, change is happening even faster.

The time for debate over what to do has come and gone. The science is clear, and the window of opportunity to safeguard our planet as a healthy home for future generations is closing. Now is the time to come together. Why, then, are Conservative politicians across this country ignoring evidence, putting roadblocks in front of positive climate action and using this issue to divide Canadians? It reminds me of the Stephen Harper decade of environmental backsliding and muzzling of scientists.

We’re seeing the devastating impacts of climate change across the country – rivers are rising higher during floods. Droughts are parching crops. Forest fires are burning longer, hotter and more often. Here in Manitoba, we’ve been hit hard by climate change – the 2011 and 2014 floods cost us some $1 billion each and forced the evacuation of thousands of people. What used to be the “flood of the century” seems to be happening every few years now. People are growing more and more worried about what our destabilizing weather will bring next. Can our infrastructure withstand the pressure? Will we be able to afford to insure our homes?

We need to get behind leaders who have a clear grasp of the real threats before us, and who have demonstrated the will to take action. The federal Liberal government’s climate plan will achieve historic reductions in emissions through over 50 practical and affordable measures, including putting a price on carbon pollution.

We know that a price on carbon is the most affordable and effective measure we can take to bring down harmful emissions. In 2018, William Nordhaus and Paul Romer won a Nobel Prize for their work on the economics of climate change. Nordhaus argues that the most sensible response to climate change is to price carbon pollution. Romer asserts that the problem isn’t knowing what to do, the problem is getting a consensus to act.

There was a time when Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister agreed that a price on pollution was good policy. For two years, his government worked with the federal government to design a carbon pricing system. But Pallister flip-flopped, joining the cabal of provincial Conservative leaders Doug Ford, Jason Kenney, and Scott Moe, who wish to spend time and money fighting carbon pricing in the courts instead of fighting climate change. And so, the federal government had to step up in Manitoba, as they have done in all provinces without their own carbon pollution pricing plan.

This federal plan is fair and affordable. We’re returning all of the money collected in Manitoba back to Manitobans. Let me be clear, the federal government isn’t keeping a cent – 90% is going right back to citizens through the Climate Action Incentive tax rebate. The remaining 10% will help Manitoba small businesses, schools, hospitals, universities, municipalities and Indigenous communities shift to a cleaner economy.

An average family of four in Manitoba will get $339 through their 2018 tax return under our federal plan. Most Canadian families will save more in taxes than they will pay in the carbon price increase. And, citizens will have a greater incentive to make greener choices.

On climate change, Prime Minister Trudeau has said, “We are the first generation that has known how to fix this problem, but we are the last generation that will actually be able to do something about it.”

Our federal government is collaborating with scientists and economists on practical actions that work. We know this makes good ecological and economic sense. The whole world is looking for clean solutions and the market for those solutions is estimated to be worth $26 trillion. That’s bigger than the Canadian, US, and UK economies, combined. A price on pollution gives Canadian businesses added incentive to innovate, compete and lead in the dawning low-carbon economy. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and we can’t let Conservative politicians like Andrew Scheer hold Canada back.

The fact is, in 2019, if a government doesn’t have a plan for the environment, a government doesn’t have a plan for the economy.

Conservative politicians in the Harper/Scheer camp will spread myths and misinformation about this being “a job-killing tax,” but by investing in the clean economy now, we’re actually creating the jobs of tomorrow, and helping to lower the huge future costs to society resulting from climate-related disasters.

Fighting climate change is the greatest collective challenge we face. It’s a tough battle, and we can’t let ourselves be distracted by partisan posturing. The world is changing, and one day soon, we’ll pass it to our kids and our grandkids. We owe them our very best, most well-informed, most united effort.

(To read this article in the Winnipeg Free Press, follow this link: https://bit.ly/2GP6FZq)