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When asked what he’d say to leaders who don’t want to tackle climate change with the same urgency, he said, “Ya, get with it.”

Brown said Prime Minister Stephen Harper “ought to be reexamining what he’s doing.”

“Canada has a long way to go, as does the United States, as does everybody. It’s not about pointing fingers because we’d have to point to ourselves,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot to do, but some people aren’t even on board to know that. So I would say, ‘Get on board, let’s get going, let’s work together and make a world that really will work for all of us.'”

“We have to take radical, systematic, continuous effort on a local, national and global basis,” Brown said. “The stakes couldn’t be higher and the hour is very late.”

Wynne and Couillard also called for greater federal leadership, albeit in less bombastic terms. She said she wants other leaders to hear the messages from today and “take them along” on the path to Paris.

“We need federal and national governments across the continent to commit, to hear these messages,” Wynne said. “But all I can do as the premier of Ontario is put that message out and take actions that make it clear that we’re serious” about fighting climate change.

Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq was at an event in her riding to celebrate Nunavut Day as opposed to attending the summit on Wednesday. However, three other members of Cabinet, including Treasury Board President Tony Clement were at the Global Economic Forum, which is conjointly on the same floor of Toronto’s Royal York.