The cancellation of the Cap…

The cancellation of the Cap and Trade program and the resulting repeal of the Climate Change Mitigation and Low-carbon Economy Act, 2016, come at a time that will either create an opportunity for Ontario to step forward as a leader and innovator to tackle climate change, or will continue to drive us backward as a province into irrelevance on the global stage.

Climate change is real. It will impact all of our lives profoundly, and if we care even a little bit about future generations beyond a four-year reign of an elected political leader, we will work together to make a better life for all of us that will allow us to survive and thrive. Ontario faces many impacts of global climate change already - our extreme weather events like ice storms and heatwaves, floods, forest fires and tornadoes, we can't ignore that we are already feeling the changes, and that they are dramatically impacting our economy, health, and daily livelihoods and well-being, especially amongst our most vulnerable sections of our population.

Home to more than 1/3 of the population of Canada, Ontario is in a position to make a strong statement if we must re-write our legislation on Climate Change. Let us take this opportunity to be better. To strive for a future where we can all feel hope for our children and future generations, rather than fear and trepidation. Let us develop a comprehensive new plan that will allow our province to recover its potential appeal to renewable energy innovators and companies that want to invest in our province to create a better, cleaner, sustainable world. Now is the time more than ever, with the United Nation's most recent report and call to action that tells us we have a paltry 12 years to get our act together before it is too late. Let us see that as a challenge rather than an ominous, fatalistic threat - it isn't. It is a chance for us to step up, and show what Ontario can do to contribute to real, measurable change and to provide a future for our province and its residents that will allow us to thrive - not just survive, as we adapt to a warming world. There are key targets and areas of focus (some links are provided, but the research is widely available), and one of the best ways, even according to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics winner, is via Carbon Taxing.

The new Ontario government's focus on efficiency must take this into account - the most efficient ways to tackle climate change are the very concepts you are repealing. If this must be done, put something better, stronger in place that will allow us as a province to be a part of the solution, rather than continuing to adhere to an ineffective, inefficient and oblivious status quo. Ignoring climate change won't make it go away, but it may very well make people leave Ontario if it is no longer a safe and comfortable place to live in 20 years. We must act now.