As a former high school…

As a former high school teacher, I taught hundreds of students and encouraged the dreams they had for their future. Now, I am very concerned how their lives will be impacted by climate change.

The Ontario government's Bill 4 Cap and Trade Cancellation Act is a regressive step since there is a global climate emergency. On Monday October 8th, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released it's latest report and says "urgent and unprecedented changes" are required to keep global warming from going above 1.5 C. Even a half degree Celsius above this will cause increased droughts, floods, fires, extreme heat that will effect millions of people.

According to Dianne Saxe, in her 2108 Greenhouse Gas Report, the Ontario cap and trade program has been effective in reducing carbon emissions and has had beneficial environmental and economic benefits. However, the Ontario government's cancellation of the Climate Change Mitigation and Low Carbon Economy Act 2016, will remove billions of dollars of funding for climate related projects in Ontario. Ms. Saxe recommends a strong new law needs to be implemented that has three key components: a"polluter pay" principle to act as an incentive to decrease carbon pollution; provide funding for investment for low carbon solutions; and implement climate pollution regulations and enforcement.

I urge the Ontario Government to seriously reconsider implementing Bill 4 Cap and Trade Cancellations Act, to reflect on its actions in light of the climate emergency, and to make decisions that will consider present and future generations.