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opinion

Kathleen Wynne is Premier of Ontario.

Recently, the premiers gathered in Newfoundland and Labrador to steer our country's economy forward. In the absence of federal leadership or partnership, we have come together to make Canada a world leader in delivering secure, sustainable energy that is socially responsible, strengthens efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions and creates economic growth and prosperity from coast to coast to coast. It is called the Canadian Energy Strategy (CES). Already, it is putting our economy, our environment and our confederation on firmer ground.

The premiers have discussed a CES for years. Originally, these discussions focused on the need to develop and move oil and gas. That is an important objective, but it had us rowing to shore with only one oar in the water. To truly chart a course toward the sustainable development of Canada's abundant energy resources, the CES would need to tackle the connection between Canada's energy sector and our imperative to fight climate change. After much discussion and consultation, the CES we released at the Council of the Federation meeting does exactly that.

The evidence that climate change is happening at an alarming rate, costing our economy and threatening our future prosperity is now overwhelming. Equipped with these hard truths, provinces and territories are taking various approaches to fighting climate change. We have each set our own targets for emission reductions. Meanwhile, the federal government has acted alone in setting a national target to inform Canada's participation at the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris this December.

With provincial economies affected differently by climate-change policy, the answers we seek are not easily found and there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. But Canadians expect, and deserve the commitment, that we will work together to build opportunity for people today and secure the future for our children and grandchildren. These objectives speak to the very core of what we have achieved with the CES.

By bringing the positions of Canada's premiers together through a common energy vision, the CES begins the work of assembling the various elements of Canada's climate-change actions into a common strategy. In a world heading toward a low-carbon economy and for a country as diverse and interdependent as Canada, I cannot overstate the significance of finding this common ground.

The CES is by no means the end of the road – it is a living strategy that will evolve. As it does, our CES implementation plan will see actions taken under the document's three themes: sustainability and conservation, technology and innovation, and the delivery of energy to people. We will assess our progress in these areas when the CES comes back before the premiers at next year's Council of the Federation meeting in Yukon.

Still, some doubt that the CES can deliver. I want to point those skeptics to the results we have already achieved through bilateral and multilateral collaboration. For example, Quebec and Ontario reached a deal last year to expand our trade in clean electricity during contrasting periods of high seasonal demand. This will help both provinces reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring a cost-effective energy supply.

Last week, Ontario announced two more steps forward, both shaped by the vision of the CES. We will look at opportunities to import clean and reliable hydroelectricity from Newfoundland and Labrador. And for remote northern communities, where electricity is dependent on the use of greenhouse gas-emitting diesel fuel, a new partnership among Manitoba, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories and Yukon will establish a Pan-Canadian Task Force to reduce diesel reliance by providing reliable, grid-connected electricity.

You can see why I had a mixed reaction to a recent Globe and Mail editorial. It refers to the "absence of federal policy" on climate change as an opportunity for the provinces to create a common, national strategy, before concluding that the CES failed to advance the discussion. Not only have the premiers advanced the discussion with the release of the CES, we have moved ahead with concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while securing the future of Canada's economy.

The way I see it, nation-building is messy, it is protracted, and it requires all hands on deck. In 2015, with a rapidly warming planet, our future prosperity increasingly at risk and a federal government missing in action, nation-building is up to us premiers. As the CES demonstrates, we are up to the task.

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