Editing Brian Mulroney (section)

=== Environmental policy ===

The environment was a key focus of Mulroney's government. His government added eight new national parks (including [[Bruce Peninsula National Park|Bruce Peninsula]] and [[South Moresby]]), and passed the ''[[Canadian Environmental Assessment Act]]'' and ''[[Canadian Environmental Protection Act]]''.<ref name="Raymond B. Blake 2007">Raymond B. Blake, ed., ''Transforming the Nation: Canada and Brian Mulroney'' (2007)</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hillmer |first1=Norman |title=Brian Mulroney |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/brian-mulroney |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=May 27, 2022 |date=April 22, 2013 |archive-date=May 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527050606/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/brian-mulroney |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1987, Mulroney hosted an international climate conference in [[Montreal]], Quebec. There, 46 nations signed the [[Montreal Protocol]] to limit the use and production of [[chlorofluorocarbons]] (CFCs); this agreement came after the discovery that CFCs were burning a hole through the [[ozone layer]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Montpetit |first1=Jonathan |title=That time conservatives saved the planet from climate change |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/conservatives-ozone-montreal-protocol-1.4409482 |website=CBC News |access-date=May 25, 2022 |date=November 19, 2017 |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525234734/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/conservatives-ozone-montreal-protocol-1.4409482 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Mulroney secured the [[U.S.–Canada Air Quality Agreement]], an [[environmental treaty]] on [[acid rain]], with United States President [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1991. Both nations committed to reducing the emissions of the air pollutants (sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide) that caused acid rain through a [[cap-and-trade]] system.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Parry |first1=Tom |title=Years ago, Canada and the U.S. came together to end the acid rain threat. What changed? |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/acid-rain-bush-climate-change-mulroney-1.4934402 |website=CBC News |access-date=May 25, 2022 |date=December 6, 2018 |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525042755/https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/acid-rain-bush-climate-change-mulroney-1.4934402 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=Josh |title=How George H.W. Bush and Brian Mulroney teamed up to curb acid rain |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4731021/george-bush-brian-mulroney-acid-rain/ |website=Global News |access-date=May 25, 2022 |date=December 5, 2018 |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525042754/https://globalnews.ca/news/4731021/george-bush-brian-mulroney-acid-rain/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Negotiations began in 1986 when Mulroney first discussed the issue with then-president [[Ronald Reagan]]. Mulroney repeatedly pressed the issue in public meetings with Reagan in 1987<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1315355.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106001539/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1315355.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 6, 2012|title=Mulroney Presses Reagan;Canadian Wants Acid Rain Treaty|date=April 6, 1987|access-date=May 25, 2022}}</ref> and 1988.<ref>{{cite news |author=Philip Shabecoff, Special to the New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/29/world/canada-sees-acid-rain-talks.html |title=Canada Sees Acid-Rain Talks |location=Canada; United States |newspaper=NYTimes.com |date=April 29, 1988 |access-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525042756/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/29/world/canada-sees-acid-rain-talks.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Under Mulroney, Canada became the first industrialized country to ratify the 1992 [[Convention on Biological Diversity]] at the [[Earth Summit]] in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Conference experts claimed that Canada's signing of the treaty motivated the United Kingdom and Germany to pledge their support and thus avoid the convention's defeat. The conference also introduced the [[United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change]], which sought to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to an environmentally friendly level; Canada was the first [[Group of Seven]] (G7) nation to sign the treaty. At the convention, Mulroney pledged $260 million from Canada toward advancing sustainable development for developing nations; this included an offer to forgive $145 million in debts owed to Canada by Latin American nations on the condition that the sum of money be used for sustainable development and social programs. At the end of the conference, Mulroney stated, "I leave this conference believing we have a better chance of saving the world than we had when we came here."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nichols |first1=Mark |title=Progress in Rio |url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1992/6/22/progress-in-rio |website=Maclean's |access-date=May 27, 2022 |date=June 22, 1992 |archive-date=June 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220612150931/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1992/6/22/progress-in-rio |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hrvatin |first1=Vanessa |title=A brief history of Canada's climate change agreements |url=https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/a-brief-history-of-canadas-climate-change-agreements/ |website=Canadian Geographic |access-date=May 27, 2022 |date=May 30, 2016 |archive-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516183849/https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/a-brief-history-of-canadas-climate-change-agreements/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

By 1992, Newfoundland and Labrador cod of breeding age dropped to one percent of its estimated peak. Concerned about the [[overfishing]] of cod stocks off the coast of the province, Mulroney's government, in the summer of that year imposed a [[Moratorium (law)|moratorium]] on cod fishing; they initially set the ban for a minimum of two years, but later expanded it indefinitely.<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Crosbie calls cod moratorium his hardest political moment |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/crosbie-calls-cod-moratorium-his-hardest-political-moment-1.1214175 |website=CBC News |access-date=February 5, 2022 |date=June 27, 2012 |archive-date=February 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205083742/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/crosbie-calls-cod-moratorium-his-hardest-political-moment-1.1214175 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title="I didn't take the fish from the God damn water" |url=https://parli.ca/i-didnt-take-the-fish-out-of-the-god-damn-water/ |website=Parli.ca |date=March 4, 2021 |access-date=February 5, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205083747/https://parli.ca/i-didnt-take-the-fish-out-of-the-god-damn-water/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CodEncyclopedia">{{cite web |last1=Berry |first1=David |title=Cod Moratorium of 1992 |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cod-moratorium-of-1992 |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=May 27, 2022 |date=August 6, 2020 |archive-date=May 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527053912/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cod-moratorium-of-1992 |url-status=live }}</ref> This resulted in the layoff of 30,000–40,000 workers. Mulroney's government introduced the Northern Cod Adjustment and Recovery Program (NCARP) that provided [[unemployment insurance]] payments and retraining to workers; most of the workers viewed this as insufficient. In the first decade of the ban, Newfoundland and Labrador's population fell by 10 percent as people left to search for work.<ref name="CodEncyclopedia" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Dixit |first1=Prajwala |title=What does 2020's pandemic have in common with the 1992 cod moratorium? More than you think |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/pandemic-cod-moratorium-1992-1.5710693 |website=CBC News |access-date=May 27, 2022 |date=September 6, 2020 |quote=She added that the moratorium also resulted in the largest mass industrial layoff in Canadian history. As a proportion of the provincial population, she said, 30,000 to 40,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians... |archive-date=May 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527053913/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/pandemic-cod-moratorium-1992-1.5710693 |url-status=live }}</ref>