The science is in - and…

The science is in - and studies by IPCC scientists have come out with the latest research this October telling us climate change is worse than expected and they are warning us that we need to take quick action. Carbon emissions need to bend downwards by 2020, we need to stop burning fossil fuels in the decade and we need to be carbon neutral by 2050 or we will certainly unleash run away climate change resulting in climate chaos that will be unsurviable.

And Ontario has dropped the ball. The new government is allowing our atmosphere to be used as a free dumping place for carbon and air pollution that is heating the planet and causing floods, droughts, wildfires, heat waves, lung and heart disease such as asthma and heart attacks, and vector borne disease that is causing families, the middle class and tax payers money and sometimes even their lives to deal with the disasters. The government threw away $2 Billion a year when it cancelled cap and trade.

The loss of this money means that government also cancelled the programs that were to be funded by the cap and trade funds. Now instead of reducing climate change by making the polluters – the big companies - pay and funnel that money to help the middle class and families to retrofit their homes to reduce climate change, reduce their heating bills and have a more comfortable homes, or buy electric vehicles to reduce air pollution that saves lives as well as reduces climate change, the government abruptly ended those programs with little warning. They ripped renewable energy projects that would have provided us with sustainable, safe, healthy energy, literally, out of the ground, and instead, are keeping expensive, dangerous nuclear energy which is not carbon neutral when the mining, processing and waste disposal are taken into account - and has no safe way to dispose of the deadly waste which lasts for thousands of years.

Cancelling the programs has also reduced revenues that municipal governments were going to use to retrofit hospitals, schools and institutions to make them more energy efficient and save taxpayers money forever. It was going to be used to build public transit which would reduce deaths from air pollution and reduce congestion in our cities as well as reduce climate emissions.
And the government has proposed nothing in its stead. Rome is burning and the government is fiddling. The government has slammed the door shut on good jobs. It has told the world that Ontario is closed to business.

Climate change is already affecting the province. What we had always considered normal weather is gone. What this government has done by cancelling cap and trade, and having no plan to address climate change, except vague promises, is literally criminal as it will cost us thousands of lives every year today and more and more lives every year as we move into the future.

Addressing climate change will save us from the costs of dealing with disasters mentioned above, and will create new jobs in local communities not far away in the tar sands. It seems that Ontario’s premier cares more about Albertans than Ontarians from his recent trip to support Alberta.

By cancelling these programs, the government is also ensuring that we will not have a prosperous, resilient and sustainable economy in Ontario. It is bizarre for a so-called free enterprise supporting premier to end the cap and trade program. Putting a price on carbon is a market solution. Now all of us are going to be paying for the costs of climate change.

Canada has committed to the Paris Accord, and the recent IPCC report emphasizes that we need to stay under 1.5 degrees C, not 2 degrees if we are to have any hope of not spiralling into unstoppable climate chaos with melting glaciers causing rising oceans and melting permafrost releasing fast acting climate changing methane.

Canada's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is one of the worst in the world on a per capita basis. We need to reduce our energy glutton habits. It is immoral for an Ontarian to consume 60 times more of the planet’s resources than a Sudanese, for instance.

We need to have climate targets that are based on science and exceed our Paris commitments. Yet, right now Ontario has no plan to fight climate change.

The government has passed a bill that says the government will develop a climate plan. This plans needs to be developed pronto! The new plan must at least support Ontario’s current reduction targets which will make Ontario almost carbon neutral by mid-century, as we need to be carbon neutral by then if we are to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees. If these targets are not met, in addition to jeopardizing future generations’ ability to live in a safe climate, it will destroy Ontario’s ability to compete economically in the world, as the rest of the world lr]eaves us behind as it is transitions to a clean, low carbon future.

Thankfully, the Federal government will apply a carbon price on January 1st. And, I expect to see a comprehensive climate plan implemented by the Ontario as well. The plan must be grounded on a consideration of human health and ecosystem integrity. It must also be based on best practices internationally, emphasize energy efficiency before energy production, build on the programs that were cancelled so people’s lives are less disrupted and the costs of law suits from those affected by the cancellations are reduced, and align with the federal government’s plans so we can access their funds. The plan must be also based in law and include a pathway to meet our fair share of the world’s emission reductions. It must identify legally binding carbon budgets and include meaningful targets, rigorous monitoring and transparent and accountable reporting of progress.
And the ambition of the plan must be ratcheted upwards if new scientific information about increasing dangers of climate change are announced, as well as when new technologies and policies are found to be effective.

Ensure Ontario is a world leader in addressing climate change. Our lives and economy depend on it.