As a lifelong citizen of the…

As a lifelong citizen of the Province of Ontario and as a professional engineer, it is of my opinion that the repeal of the Climate Change Mitigation and Low Carbon Economy Act, 2016 is a misguided action by the current sitting government. The reason for this opinion is that this proposed legislation fails to present a clear and detailed alternate pathway for reducing carbon emissions to replace the Cap and Trade program being repealed. The proposed legislation therefore creates uncertainty in the market place for investment in the nascent clean technology sector and may seriously delay action on shifting Ontario towards a low-carbon economy. This is particularly concerning given that the most recently issued statement by the UN's International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 6th Assessment) has identified that the remaining timeline available for avoiding the most catastrophic consequences of human-caused climate change is rapidly coming to an end. The UN IPCC statement specifically indicates that net human-caused carbon emissions would need to fall approximately 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, and decrease to 'net zero' around 2050. Delaying action further will result in increased cost to Ontario citizens (tax payers) and businesses through increased probability of severe weather events which directly result in lost economic production, increased pressure to raise municipal and provincial taxes in order to cover uninsured losses and to repair infrastructure such as bridges, roads and sewers compromised during severe weather events. Furthermore, the actuarial science is clear on the risks that climate change presents to property owners and therefore many insurance and re-insurance companies have already begun to price these risks into premiums, thereby increasing costs for Ontario residents and businesses.

When considering how to reduce emissions, there are only a few effective proven mechanisms that governments can turn to in order to persuade businesses and citizens to reduce pollution, including carbon emissions. All of these mechanisms require robust government regulation. One such mechanism is cap and trade with proceeds of the sale of emission credits being used to fund emission reduction initiatives, which this proposed legislation is repealing. Another mechanism is to create an annually declining carbon emissions budget for the entire province of Ontario and create strict regulations limiting emissions for individual industries and businesses to stay within the carbon emission budget and set fines for entities that exceed these limits. Such a system would be complex and require significant government resources in order to implement and enforce. The issue with the first two methods is that they both result in the government potentially picking winners and losers. The third option would be to set a price on carbon dioxide emissions through a carbon tax, which gradually increases year on year. A carbon tax would be the most favourable, as it levels the playing field for all industries and allows the free market to determine winning technologies and businesses. Further, by gradually increasing the per tonne cost of carbon year on year, it allows for companies to innovate and reduce their emissions, thereby transitioning Ontario to a low-carbon economy. For such an approach to be successful however, the government would have to set a high enough price on carbon to precipitate changes in consumer behaviours which drive changes in the marketplace. It is important to note that other jurisdictions such as the province of British Columbia have a track record of success with implementation of a carbon tax that has not resulted in a negative overall impact to their economies.

It is my professional opinion that continued inaction on regulating carbon emissions will severely impede Ontario's ability to adapt to climate change in the medium to long term and will burden our younger generations with unprecedented costs for maintaining critical infrastructure and constructing new infrastructure that is capable of surviving more intense and frequent weather events. The government of Ontario therefore has a responsibility to our young citizens to ensure that we as a society are not mortgaging their future in order to pay for our lack of will for transitioning to a low-carbon economy.