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Rather than waste diversion having stalled in the Yukon, it is my understanding that waste diversion has never been allowed to operate sustainably here in the territory and that individuals and municipal, territorial, and federal governments need to work both respectively and together to address this reality. From a federal perspective, if elected as the Yukon’s next Member of Parliament, some major issues to address and solve include:

• – The federal government must act to mandate that all food-related packaging be either compostable or at minimum, a “better grade” of plastics (“better” being relative). Canada should ban the use of category 4 (e.g. plastic bags), 5, 6, and 7 plastics for category 1 (bottles) and 2 (HDPE) plastic packaging, both of which are more economically viable for recyclers to process as opposed to 4, 5, 6 and 7, which cost waste diversion suppliers, making sustainable waste diversion and recycling increasingly infeasible.
• – Since the last federal election in 2016, Canada has been unsuccessful in upholding dozens of agreements with international trading partners, which has potentially resulted in a significant decrease in recycled products’ pricing across the board. A viable waste diversion and recycling industry here in the territory requires stability regarding products’ pricing structures.
• – Currently, local waste diversion suppliers are working with 2019 costs for shipping and labour (to name only two examples of operating costs) that have doubled, tripled, or quadrupled in the last two decades, however, are working with ever-decreasing costs for processing waste diversion products (due to government funding not providing a cost of living increase).
• – Fundamentally however, individuals must take personal responsibility for their consumption and begin with reduction and reuse to decrease recycling and diversion. The federal government, in partnership with other governments, can support and facilitate education and public awareness initiatives for Canadians and Yukoners to help with the critical need to increase personal waste reduction and subsequent diversion

A question we all need to ask ourselves is: what are we willing to sacrifice to reduce the burden we impose on the environment through our consumer culture?

I would support the federal government legislating in the area of packaging – to reduce waste and conserve resources. Too much attention has been focused on the consumers of products, and their recycling efforts, and not enough attention focused on manufacturers and producers.

I would support implementing an extended producer responsibility program to hold manufacturers financially responsible for the waste associated with the production, distribution, packaging and end of life of their products. I would  also support banning some single use plastics.

Canada is falling behind on reducing waste and phasing out single-use plastics. Plastic pollution has huge costs for our economy, our environment and our communities. To reduce waste in our landfills and communities, a New Democrat government will ban single-use plastics across Canada by 2022. We will develop legislation that holds companies responsible for the entire lifecycle of their plastics products and packaging. The Extended Producer Responsibility legislation will be enforceable and reduce clean-up costs for our communities. Polluters will pay, not consumers. This is all part of NDP’s comprehensive Waste Reduction Strategy.

We’ll help municipalities improve their waste management and recycling programs and work towards a zero-waste future. We will tackle our existing plastic pollution by working with provinces and territories, municipalities, and Indigenous governments to capture and recycle the single-use plastics already in our communities. In the past, New Democrats led the charge to ban microbeads and we were successful in passing a motion that demanded the government take action to reduce plastic pollution in our rivers, lakes, and oceans.

An NDP government, under our Waste Reduction Strategy will also:

• – Declare single-use plastics, micro-plastics and micro-fibers as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
• – Create plastic packaging reduction targets for sectors distributing or selling fresh and prepared foods.
• – Invest in the development and deployment of technologies to help manufacturers transition away from harmful plastics – and work towards a circular economy and a zero-waste future.

We will work to connect communities to farmers through local food hubs and develop a national food waste strategy to reduce the huge amounts of food that currently goes to waste in Canada. We will also make sure vulnerable populations are not disadvantaged by our decisions. We will hold broad consultations with persons living with disabilities to ensure that accessibility issues are addressed (e.g. need straws to drink).

One way to make the Yukon economy more regeneratively circular is to focus on local food production, to lower our import and packaging footprint. Over the last four years, the Liberal government has supported a number of local agriculture initiatives – including our support of $500,000.00 for the Tr’ondek Hwech’in Teaching and Working Farm. As well as the recently announced Local Food Infrastructure Fund, which will target groups of community, private, academic and other organizations that collectively have the mission to reduce food insecurity in a sustainable manner by strengthening or establishing a local food system.

Yes, however, as I understand it, our current model is not yet one of take-make-dispose, rather somewhere between that and a Zero Waste model. A federal government, as waste diversion dollars are administered by the territorial government to municipalities in some cases, can, as above:
– Help support educational and public awareness initiatives to promote a less consumptive consumer culture by individuals.
– Mandate compostable packaging.
– Upgrade produce packaging to category 1 and 2 plastics.
– Support domestic markets from local food production to energy, to reduce Yukoners’ reliance on outside product sources.
– Reestablish strong relationships with our international trading partners to sustain viable recycled products’ pricing.

I agree with this conclusion. The first Green Parties were founded by people who recognized the ecological unsustainability of the traditional economic model and also that none of the traditional political parties were interested in any other model. The Green Party of Canada currently includes the goal of working towards zero waste. The federal government can help in Yukon by legislating to:
– Require higher percentages of recycled plastic feedstock in durable plastic products.
– Require all products to be fully recyclable using readily available processes
– Limit the number of plastic types produced as disposable items or packaging.

Yes, NDP agrees that the current linear consumer model is unsustainable and supports developing a regenerative circular economy in Canada and in Yukon. New Democrats will increase consumer protection and make sure Canadians have the right to repair electronic devices and other products at affordable prices, expanding consumer choice, and cutting down on waste.

Under our Waste Reduction Strategy, we’ll help municipalities improve their waste management and recycling programs and work towards a zero-waste future.

We’ll tackle our existing plastic pollution by working with provinces and territories, municipalities, and Indigenous governments to capture and recycle the single-use plastics already in our communities.

We’ll invest in the development and deployment of technologies to help manufacturers transition away from harmful plastics – and work towards a circular economy and a Zero Waste future.

Under our climate action plan called Power to Change, we’ll create a Clean Communities Fund to support investments in innovative community-owned and operated clean energy projects. Our plan will also expand the use of renewable gas produced by organic waste from farms, forests, landfills, and water treatment plants.

We will also create a centre of excellence for research and development of zero-emission vehicles, and support Canadian manufacturing of batteries, energy storage solutions and alternative fuels like biofuels made from waste.

We’ll work to connect Canadians to farmers with initiatives like local food hubs, community-supported agriculture, and networks to increase the amount of food that is sold, processed, and consumed in local and regional markets.

We will also support farms transitioning to organic and climate-resilient forms of food production using agroecological processes, implementing regenerative agricultural practices, and using sustainable, clean energy resources. We will promote farming land management techniques that increases carbon sequestration and reduces carbon emissions.

We’ll take a strategic, sector-specific approach that invests in innovation and R&D – with a particular focus on developing the technologies we need to thrive in a low-carbon future. NDP supports local people determining the solutions that work best for their situations. We support initiatives like the City of Whitehorse’ composting program. We also acknowledge the depth and breadth of northern innovation, exemplified by NorthLight Innovation, Northern Research Centre at Yukon University, and local businesses like Northerm Windows and Doors. All of these organizations are implementing local solutions that work for Yukoners and northerners. A New Democrat government will step up as a partner to foster entrepreneurship and support a Canadian start-up culture with a focus on helping Canadian companies in all regions of the country including in northern and rural communities.

The Liberal Party takes the reduction of GHGs very seriously. As a government we have been leading by example and will ensure all federal buildings run on clean electricity by 2022. Investing in renewables to get to 90% clean electricity by 2030.

We are also supporting Yukon’s transition to clean energy with projects like wind turbines in Kluane, solar farm in Old Crow, biofuel in Teslin and a storage battery at the Whitehorse dam. This will help lower the carbon waste of all projects across the territory.

We will help retrofit 1.5 million homes to help Canadians make their homes more energy efficient, and better protect them from climate-related risks by giving them up to $40k interest-free loans.

To make zero-emission vehicles a good solution, we will work with industry and communities to install up to 5,000 charging stations along the Trans Canada Highway, other road networks and in urban and rural areas.

We will plant to 2 billion trees as part of our plant to get Canada to net-zero emissions.

We’re also taking real climate action now by:
– Supporting over 1,200 public transit projects across the country
– Making zero-emission vehicles more affordable and accessible
– Phasing out coal by 2030

As the Yukon’s Member of Parliament, I would work with, and on behalf of Yukoners to:
– Support the development of alternate energy solutions from more/smaller hydroelectric projects, that do not negatively impact Indigenous harvesting rights as well as support wind, solar, biomass and geothermal projects. I would advocate and work to fund these projects in partnership with Yukon First Nations governments, Yukon and the private sector.
– Champion and support the needs and priorities of Yukon residents, businesses and communities in Ottawa with my colleagues and the relevant Ministers responsible.
– Support local product development to reduce our reliance on products and services from beyond the territory that rely on transport up the highway and Inside Passage creating increased GHG emissions.
– Support a domestic responsible oil and gas industry in the Eagle Plains area.
– Support green home renovations through tax credits.
– Lead by example and teach my two daughters to reduce, reuse and recycle.

To reduce Yukon’s GHG emissions, we need to do two things: get less of our energy from burning fossil fuels, e.g. gasoline and diesel, propane and LNG, and instead get that energy from electricity, and (2) produce more electricity from renewable sources.

An estimated 62% of Yukon’s GHG emissions are the result of transportation, therefore it makes sense to prioritize reductions in that sector. In Yukon that will mainly mean transitioning our vehicles from gas and diesel burning ones to vehicles powered by electricity. Short term this should be incentivized with rebates, long term it will likely need to be legislated.

There are also actions that can be taken by individuals to reduce their personal GHG emissions from transportation, without buying a new vehicle – including car pooling, ride sharing, driving less and even driving at lower speeds. All should be incentivized.

An estimated 18% of Yukon’s GHG emissions are from our buildings – in particular from heating our buildings. To reduce this, Yukoners should be switching from oil and propane furnace systems to electric. This is already happening to some extent, and most new buildings are heated with electricity.

New renewable sources of electricity will include hydro, in particular run of river, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass.

NDP will cut greenhouse gas emissions to avoid global temperatures rising more than 1.5 degrees C by 2030. Our Power to Change climate action plan offers a multi-faceted approach to decreasing emissions and it commits to spending $15 billion over four years. Here’s our approach breakdown:

Approach: jump to renewable energy sources
The NDP want to make a historic jump to non-emitting energy. We will provide more funding for renewable energy projects while curtailing investment in the fossil fuel sector. We will:
– Create a new $3 billion Canadian Climate Bank to make big, meaningful investments in innovative clean energy projects.
– The Climate Bank could be used to inter-connect power grids between jurisdictions, like Yukon’s isolated-grid to BC’s network.
– Spur the transition to renewable energy, with an additional $3.5 billion leveraged through the Canadian Climate Bank.
– Move rural and northern communities off their diesel dependence as we work towards a net carbon-free electricity by 2030 and 100% non-emitting electricity by 2050.
– Enshrine environmental rights in law through an Environmental Bill of Rights. This bill also gives Canadians the rights to participate in decisions impacting their environment and to hold the government accountable.

Approach: reduce greenhouse gas emissions
To do this, we will look at changing how we get around:
– Make major investments in low carbon transportation infrastructure like public transit, rail and ferries.
– This includes electrifying public transit across the country by 2030.
– Put in place permanent funding for modern public transit across Canada and work with municipalities towards fare-free transit to ease commutes and make life more affordable.
– Push the auto industry to manufacture zero-emission vehicles in Canada.
– Stimulate demand by making it easier for families to afford a zero-emission vehicle right away be providing a $5,000 federal purchase incentive and waiving the federal sales tax.
– This incentive will grow over the next few years to $15,000 and be targeted to made-in-Canada vehicles only – giving manufacturers a powerful incentive to build zero-emission vehicles locally for the long term.
– This will help ensure good jobs building the vehicles of the future stay right here in Canada.
– Provide easier access to charging zero emission vehicles by helping families install charging stations at home and expanding charging station infrastructure across the country.
– Promote smart community planning and active transportation like walking and cycling for better commutes and healthier and more affordable choices.

We will also make buildings more energy efficient:
– Retrofit all housing stock in Canada by 2050,
– Provide low-interest loans repayable through energy savings to pay for home upgrades like insulation, windows, heat pumps, and other renewable technologies.
– This will create thousands of jobs in the skilled trades and supporting industries and save families on utility costs.

Approach: get off fossil fuels
Getting off our dependence of fossil fuels is critical in addressing climate change. We will:
– Continue with carbon pricing as it drives emission reductions at the source.
– End big breaks for big polluters, hold them accountable and make them pay for and cut their emissions.
– Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and redirect these funds to low carbon initiatives such as renewable energy projects.
– Reform Export Development Canada’s mandate to focus on providing support for Canadian sustainable energy projects, rather than the petroleum industry.

Approach: conservation and protection measures
Nature, trees, sea beds, kelp groves, marshes, coral reefs, swamps, all offer a natural climate solution by removing carbon from the air and storing it. We will help heal our broken planet through conservation and protection measures:
– Preserve ecosystems and natural habitats by protecting at least 30% of our land, freshwater and oceans by 2030.
– Back those protections with funding and enforcement.
– Support the creation of Indigenous-managed protected areas to make sure that species recovery efforts uphold Indigenous rights and embrace traditional knowledge to increase biodiversity
– Develop a system of urban national park to support conservation and preserve our natural heritage by working with other levels of government.
– Develop a national approach to tree-planting using responsible reforestation to help lower our carbon footprint.
– Put $400 million to support conservation, waste reduction and protection of lands and water.

Approach: accountability
Canadians are tired of governments missing targets after targets. The NDP will legislate its science-based target and establish an independent Climate Accountability Office to do regular audits of progress towards our climate goals, with a budget to share information about the importance of climate action with Canadians. Our plan will use the powers of the federal government to ensure that the provinces set and meet interim emissions reduction targets in the lead up to 2030 and 2050.