"Climate Change is the…

"Climate Change is the defining issue of our time" – António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General

The history of the 20th century is one of mass exploitation of our land, sea, air and fauna. Developed countries—such as Canada—are among the worst culprits as they have spent the past 100+ years releasing emissions into the air. While rapidly developing countries are increasingly responsible for the current increases in global emissions, Canada, and ergo Ontario, has a moral responsibility to shoulder a disproportionate amount of the work to address climate change because of this legacy of emissions. In this current anti-tax climate, it's not difficult to understand why the Cap and Trade system was used as a political football. However, what we are in effect doing when we use Climate Change mitigation policies as a political tool, is gambling with the future. If the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks is aware of the science of Climate Change, he will know that we have a narrow window of opportunity to prevent global temperatures from rising past 2 degree Celsius. The consequences of passing this threshold is a world which will increasingly become inhospitable as extreme weather, such as prolonged droughts and intense storms, break the planets fragile ecosystem. This government claims to be working for the People of Ontario. How about the future People of Ontario? What kind of world will we be leaving our children, and their children, if we continue to drag our feet on addressing Climate Change. If this government wants to do its part to address Climate Change, the policy tools are already available. What is needed is the political courage to stand up for the future People of Ontario. I urge this government to put forward a robust and evidence-based climate change strategy. Paying lip service to what Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, said is the defining issue of our time is simply not acceptable.

Concerned Citizen of Ontario