Recommendation 2: The federal government should convene provincial, territorial, Indigenous and municipal governments to co-develop a more coordinated approach to governing adaptation.

Recommendation 1: The federal government should continue to transparently demonstrate progress on policy implementation and track results on performance over time. Ongoing monitoring and assessment can ensure the Plan performs as a coherent package of policies, allowing for updates and course corrections over time. That may require occasionally phasing out extraneous policies or adjusting existing policies rather than adding new ones.

Recommendation 3: The federal government should continue to create incentives for provinces, territories, Indigenous governments, and municipalities to implement stringent climate policies.

Different orders of government have different policy instruments available. Efforts to tackle climate change will be most effective and efficient when a wide range of these instruments is brought to bear. Focusing only on federal levers, for instance, would force the federal government to rely on instruments that might not always be well suited to reducing emissions from particular sources. For example, only provinces and territories can implement building codes. Municipalities make many of the zoning and infrastructure decisions that affect urban form and its implications for GHG emissions. Indigenous governments can best identify challenges and opportunities unique to their own context and inform or implement policy in response. A multi-jurisdictional approach offers a way of realizing the benefit of bringing an array of policy instruments to bear.

To implement such a multi-jurisdictional approach, the federal government should continue to encourage policy ambition, implementation, and coordination across all orders of government. Doing so would provide governments with both the opportunity and the motivation to customize policy according to local circumstances and priorities.

To ensure that overall climate policy in Canada is and remains sufficient to reach national milestones, the federal government should use federal policy “backstops.” This could include, for example, increases in the federal benchmark carbon price, increases to the stringency of the planned Clean Fuel Standard, or new policies altogether. Where possible, provinces and territories should have the opportunity to seek equivalency if they have policies that achieve equivalent outcomes. This would provide provinces, territories, and Indigenous governments with an opportunity to customize policy to fit their unique contexts, while still supporting national milestones and long term targets.

A collaborative, multi-jurisdictional approach will require complex and at times difficult engagement, assessment, and dialogue, but it also offers the best chance of making climate policy in Canada politically resilient. An approach that does not rely entirely on policy from one order of government has the greatest chance of avoiding backsliding in the event that new governments come to power wishing to reverse course on climate policy. On the one hand, encouraging provinces, territories, Indigenous governments, and municipalities to act meaningfully—and leaving space for them to do so—ensures that a strong base of climate policies will remain in place regardless of the future level of federal ambition. On the other, having federal climate policy backstops ensures that strong climate policy will remain intact across the country in the event that, for example, some provinces or territories elect governments seeking to repeal stringent climate policies (as has been the case with certain elements of the Pan-Canadian Framework). The potential to enhance political resiliency of climate policy is in fact the strongest argument in favour of a collaborative multi-jurisdictional approach.

Recommendation 27: The federal government must implement universal Pharmacare that includes coverage of prescription drugs, vision care, and hearing aids.

Recommendation 19: The federal and provincialgovernments should work together to introduce universal coverage for all Canadians for prescription drugs, dental care, vision care and hearing aids as essential aspects of health care.

Recommendation 25: The federal and provincial governments should work together to introduce universal coverage for all Canadians for prescription drugs, dental care, eye care and hearing aids as essential aspects of health care.

Recommendation 18: The direct access model used in British Columbia has been well received by participants involved in human rights disputes, experts and other stakeholders. The vast majority of advice we received urged us to maintain this model as it has been proven to be an efficient means of identifying and resolving issues that fall within the protections of the Code. This serves parties to the dispute well, in that it has eliminated lengthy delays relating to investigation that occurred in the past.

Recommendation 219: The development of information-sharing protocols between all service providers for all high risk cases under the leadership of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Domestic Violence Working Group. This entails directives from respective ministries to commit to sharing information in instances where public safety is at stake by means of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) or Information Sharing Agreements (ISA). The MOU’s and ISA’s detail each agency’s duty to report on cases of domestic violence. (p. 8)

Recommendation 3: The consultation process should include an educational component for commission staff to assist them in understanding culturally appropriate and effective ways to gather evidence and conduct legal processes.

Recommendation 21: The clinic is the primary vehicle for helping complainants and respondents through the human rights complaints process. This role is performed well and is vital to B.C.’s human rights system. I heard calls for the clinic’s capacity to support complainants and respondents to be broadened. This recommendation arose particularly from small businesses and service providers that cannot afford to fund an expensive response.