Senators pen trio of letters to minister over ‘significant concerns’ in feds’ climate policy

The Senate Environment Committee has sent three letters to the environment minister over the past two months raising "significant concerns” on aspects of Canada’s climate policy, including the country’s progress towards meeting emission reductions targets.

“There were significant concerns raised in our studies of these issues,” Independent Senators Group (ISG) Senator Mary Coyle (Antigonish, N.S.), chair of the Senate's Energy, the Environment, and Natural Resources Committee, said in an interview with The Hill Times.   

“And when significant concerns are raised by credible witnesses, and then we, as a committee, have a thorough discussion on what we've heard. It's a logical next step for us to engage with the minister responsible.”

The three letters, sent in May and June to Environment, Climate Change, and Nature Minister Julie Dabrusin (Toronto–Danforth, Ont.), highlight the committee’s concerns with progress towards Canada's emission reduction targets, resources for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), and “shortcomings” in the feds’ draft sustainable development strategy. 

It is not very common for Senate committees to send letters to ministers, though it is not unheard of. On the Senate website, no other committee is listed as having sent a letter to a minister this Parliament, though the website does not account for letters that may have been sent without being publicized.

In October 2025, for example, ISG Senator David Arnot (Saskatchewan) raised sending a letter to Justice Minister Sean Fraser (Central Nova, N.S.), in a Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee meeting, but there is no following public evidence as to whether that was done.

Committees have also sent letters in previous Parliaments. In 2018, the Senate Official Languages Committee sent a letter urging support for minority language community media, and in 2023, the National Finance Committee committee penned a letter to the finance minister over a two-month delay in replies to the group.

Coyle, who was a committee member when the letters were sent and has since become chair, called the approach an "important way" for Senators to communicate with the other Chamber as the Senate is now independent. 

ISG Senator Joan Kingston (New Brunswick), who was chair of the Environment Committee when the letters were sent, declined an interview with The Hill Times, referring to Coyle as the current chair.

“It’s a different era now in the relationship between the Senate and the House of Commons,” said Coyle, the co-founder and co-chair of the Senators for Climate Solutions group. 

Now that the majority of Senators are not affiliated with political parties—with the exception of the 11-Senator Conservative caucus—Senators don’t have direct access to the minister through a government caucus, she said.

There are currently 95 Senators and 10 vacancies in the Upper Chamber as Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) has yet to appoint any new Senators.

Coyle emphasized that the government has been very receptive to the committee, though Dabrusin has not yet responded to their recent letters.

“In all of my communications that I've had since being on this committee—and before being on this committee with the relevant ministers—there's always been a great receptivity and openness,” she said of the communication with the House.

"I can call a minister anytime for a meeting, and I have done that. I've had a meetings with Minister Dabrusin and her predecessors, as well as other ministers, and some ministers actually reach out, also, to Senators."

Canada 'not trending towards' meeting emissions targets 'at all,' says Coyle

Coyle said the intent of the committee's most recent letter, dated June 3—which raises concerns about Canada's progress to meeting its emissions targets—is not to instruct the government on specific actions to meet those targets, but to “encourage” Dabrusin to “engage” with Senators over the concerns. 

“Our emissions reduction targets are not going to be met for 2030, and that's very clear, even though we have five-year-old legislation in the Canadian Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act that is legally binding,” she said.

Canada’s 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels has long been forecast to be out of reach. 

In a March 12 committee meeting, Canadian Climate Institute president Rick Smith told Senators emissions are estimated to be between 18 and 22 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, depending on policies—only halfway to the goal. 

Damon Matthews, a professor at Concordia University and a member of the feds’ Net-Zero Advisory Body—which has asked to pause its activities over a lack of appointments—echoed that assessment in the same meeting. 

“The Net-Zero Advisory Body is highly concerned that this lack of progress toward near-term targets will also jeopardize the 2050 net-zero target,” Matthews said.

At the time, the committee was studying the feds’ 2025 Progress Report on the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, a report that is legally mandated under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. That act also mandates Canada’s emissions targets, which are supposed to reach 45 per cent to 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035, and ultimately, net-zero by 2050.  

In their letter, the committee “urges” the feds “to continue strengthening current and planned measures so that they are sufficient to close the gap between projected emissions reductions and Canada’s legislated targets.” 

“We're not trending towards meeting those targets at all,” said Coyle.

Alison McDermott, assistant deputy minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s strategic policy and international affairs branch, told Senators on March 12 that those goals were “always an ambitious set of targets,” but that, with each report, the feds have been “generally making progress.” 

Last year, Dabrusin committed to respecting the targets, ending months of silence on the topic. 

Yet Carney’s government has taken a different approach to climate action than his predecessor, ditching key planks put forward by former prime minister Justin Trudeau, like the proposed oil and gas emissions cap and the consumer carbon tax, raising concern from climate groups.

Carney also signed an energy deal with Alberta that weakens Canada’s industrial carbon price, and paves the way for a new pipeline project running from the province to British Columbia. 

The moves have sparked concern from environmentally minded MPs in the prime minister’s own caucus, as well. As reported by Radio-Canada, 14 Liberal MPs penned a letter to Carney this past April expressing concerns over the approach, and former Trudeau-era environment minister Steven Guilbeault (Laurier–Sainte-Marie, Que.) quit Carney’s cabinet over the Alberta deal. Guilbeault is set to resign his seat later this summer, too.

Endangered species panel needs 'tiny, tiny dollars in comparison to everything else': Coyle

The committee’s letter on the status of endangered Wildlife committee, dated May 25, reads that Senators were also “concerned” to hear that resources currently allocated to this committee are “insufficient” and are limiting the body’s ability to fulfill its mandate, urging for more funding. 

COSEWIC is an independent advisory panel reporting to Dabrusin that assesses the status of species at risk of extinction. 

Coyle said the “focus on nature and biodiversity is there” with Carney’s government, but that the funding for the committee has still been “really cut back.” 

In April, the government released its nature strategy, aiming to protect 30 per cent of Canada’s lands and oceans by 2030.

But David Lee, chair of COSEWIC, told Senators on Feb. 26 that the group's funding has decreased from $1.8-million in 2023-24 to $1.6-million in 2024-25.   

“They have such limited funding to do a great big job in Canada,” Coyle said of COSEWIC. “It’s tiny, tiny dollars in comparison to everything else.” 

The feds recently released a discussion paper for consultation that proposes changes to Canada’s environmental regulatory framework that could affect at-risk species. The paper proposes exemptions for the jeopardy test under the Species at Risk Act for some projects, meaning that construction for projects that would kill species could be green lit. The consultation period for the paper has since been extended until July 22, after backlash.   

On May 8, the committee also sent a letter to Dabrusin over the feds’ draft 2026-29 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, which it had been studying, and on which the government had been holding public consultations. 

The letter reads that Canada has made the “least progress” of any country in the G7 towards improving its sustainable development score since 2000, and “encourages” the feds to “strengthen implementation” and better align its sustainability frameworks. 

In the committee meeting, Coyle specifically questioned why Canada’s target for the environmental and clean technology sector is three per cent of GDP when that was the starting point in 2023. 

“The strategy is static," she said, “it’s not growing.”

McDermott told Senators at the time that “the government would agree that growing the clean economy is crucial,” but that she’d follow up with the committee with “a little bit more on that area.” 

ewand@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times