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“If we have no agreement, we may go to three or four,” he conceded. “But 2.7 (degrees) is not what the scientists are asking us to do. And it’s fair to say we need to do much more.”

Dion said that is why Canada is supporting France’s call for a review of emissions-reduction targets every five years, which will be debated at next month’s UN climate change talks in Paris. And it is trying to solidify the link between climate change and economic growth, or the lack thereof.

“When you want to work together on the economy, and you have more and more typhoons in this region of the world, it’s not a help,” he said. “So to disassociate climate change and the economy, to have classic discussions about the economy as if we didn’t have this relationship with the planet, it’s passé now.”

Dion is attending the APEC summit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland. Earlier in the day, Trudeau and Freeland met with counterparts from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-country bloc that has nearly completed a free trade deal.

During the meeting, Obama said the agreement was good for all countries involved, and pushed for it to be finalized sooner rather than later. “Execution is critical after we arrived at the text,” Obama said “TPP is at the heart of our shared vision for the future of this dynamic region.”

We met with very good reaction and understanding from our TPP partners and I’m happy to say that consulting process is very intense and we did some consulting today here in Manila

Trudeau and Freeland also met with Canadian business representatives on Wednesday, the majority of whom want the new government to support the deal.