On the second floor of the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa, progressive economists, climate change experts and union representatives gathered for a meeting called the Elbows Up Economic Summit. Behind the scenes, there is a fight for influence to shape the Carney government’s priorities, and environmentalists and other progressives are finding themselves shut out in the cold. As previously reported by Canada’s National Observer, many of the country’s largest climate advocacy groups are struggling to score high-level meetings with the Prime Minister’s Office even as the federal government develops a climate strategy. Against this backdrop is the grim state of Canada’s response to climate change. Or as Rowe put it, there is a political wager being made, and “pressure is mounting both inside and out.”