Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Bill 4, the Act to cancel the cap and trade program and repeal our climate change plans.

You no doubt are aware that the IPCC just released their report into the feasibility and necessity of limiting global warming to 1.5C. I've no doubt that you read it as carefully as I did, and are aware of the major conclusions of this report:

1. That the difference between 1.5C and 2C is enormous, in terms of financial costs, lost ecosystems, lost agricultural lands, and lost lives.

2. That both 1.5C and 2C limits require steep and immediate reductions in the emission of all greenhouse gases, although 1.5C is steeper.

3. That limiting warming to 1.5C will require the massive deployment of currently non-existent carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that it is entirely possible we will fail to develop in time, or at all; that even with the massive deployment of such technologies, there is only a 66% chance we can limit warming to 1.5C; that some of the scenarios are banking on CCS technologies to repair overshoot (where warming exceeds 1.5C for a time) while freely admitting that there is little to no scientific evidence on whether overshoot repair is even possible;

4. That we have 12 years in which to have already achieved substantial reductions, even under the CCS/overshoot scenarios, and given the lead time of investments and the necessary changes, we have no more than 2 years in which to make and carry out plans to achieve those reductions.

And your government has chosen to take the best tool we'd developed so far to make that happen, and throw it away without anything to replace it.

This was reckless and irresponsible and showed a total disregard for the life of my daughter and all her peers. I strongly object to the cancellation of the cap-and-trade program and would prefer to see its immediate reinstatement. Failing that, it's important that Ontario sign on to the federal carbon price plan, and stop its juvenile posturing and wasting of Ontario's budget on frivolous lawsuits. Premier Ford, of course, will do neither; but I vote, and by the next provincial election, so will my daughter. We will not forget that you considered her future worth less than a cheap beer.