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She told the meeting that young people in the North are anxiously waiting for national leaders to come up with ways to deal with the warming climate.

“(They’re) just worried. They’re worried about their community, they’re worried about their culture, and they’re worried about whether we’re going to do anything about it, because they don’t feel empowered to do anything about it,” she said.

McKenna said it’s important to firm up rules this year around how the carbon emission targets set in the Paris climate agreement will be enforceable.

“Our goal is to translate outcomes into action, and build off the co-operation of the G7 on these issues,” she said.

It’s one portion of a wide-ranging series of meetings of G7 environment, oceans and energy ministers who will be discussing climate change, plastics pollution, illegal fishing and clean energy.

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As McKenna spoke, a story published by La Presse had David Suzuki calling for her to step down.

If she really thinks what she says, McKenna should resign “instead of being an apologist for the government,” Suzuki told the Montreal-based news site.

Suzuki said Canada lacks credibility on climate change, with the Liberal government supporting the construction of a pipeline to the British Columbia coast to transport Alberta bitumen.

“She must stop rationalizing what Canada is doing,” Suzuki told La Presse, adding that the government “talks out both sides of its mouth.”

“We have a prime minister who signed (the Paris climate accord), who says, ‘We’re back,’ and we all praised him … then he approves pipelines! What is that?”