I am an Ontario resident and…

I am an Ontario resident and am opposed to Bill 4. I am thankful to receive the opportunity legally granted under the Environmental Bill of Rights to comment here, an opportunity I know that Premier Ford initially chose to ignore and only granted following legal action. I hope my and other citizen opinions shared here will be meaningfully consulted.

I do not support the proposal to repeal the Climate Change Mitigation and Low-carbon Economy Act, 2016 and wind down the Cap and Trade Program. This is especially true given that the Act would be repealed before any other effective climate change program is proposed to replace it. Although Bill 4 states that the government must establish targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario and, under subsection 4(1), that the government must prepare a climate change plan, no further details are included within Bill 4 to indicate specifics of this plan, or a timeframe in which reduction targets or a climate change plan must be established. This leaves the province vulnerable to establishing emission targets that may not have the fore of law behind them.

The time for climate change inaction is long past. The recent IPCC special report is a much-needed wake up call for citizens and government alike. A massive cultural shift is required to limit global warming to 1.5C, a well-informed benchmark with clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems. We need our Ontario government to lead the way! Bill 4 does just the opposite and tells the rest of the county and the rest of the world that Ontarians are not committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The United Nations is calling urgently for action on climate change, and the Nobel Prize in economics was recently shared by Yale professor Willian Nordhaus for his decades of work detailing the value of carbon pricing. As Ontario’s environmental watchdog has warned: “Dismantling a climate change law that was working is bad for our environment, bad for our health, and bad for business… A meaningful climate law needs science-based emissions budgets, a legal obligation to stay within those budgets, and credible, transparent progress reporting.”

As a citizen and a scientist, I urge Premier Ford and all our representatives at Queens Park to think beyond a hypothetical 10-cent reprieve in gas prices. Think beyond the next election. Use the best available information by leading experts to help improve CCMLEA and expand climate change policy in Ontario for the better. Do not support Bill 4 and the cancellation of Cap and Trade.