Will the Response to the US Inflation Reduction Act Reveal Canada’s Lack of Green Industrial Policy?

The next federal budget is expected to provide a response to the Biden Administration’s significant investments in green technology through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).With the US introducing an activist climate agenda, “green industrial policy” is becoming a hot topic. The federal government’s Fall Economic Statement declared that Canada needs a “robust industrial policy” focused on net-zero emissions, private investment, and good paying jobs. This should be welcome and amusing to social democrats who have long argued that Canada’s economic and climate policies were too dependent on market-based instruments, compared to more direct sectoral and regional strategies.