I'm writing to you today as…

I'm writing to you today as a concerned physician. I work hard for the health of my patients, and I know that the health of Ontario's citizens is an important consideration for this government. For this reason, I must ask that this government not pass this bill, and maintain Ontario's carbon pricing system. Failing to reduce carbon emissions will have negative consequences for the health of Ontarians, in a multitude of ways. Extreme weather events, particularly heat waves which have become more frequent in recent decades, have direct negative impacts on patients, especially infants and the elderly. Many of my patients report having difficulty obtaining healthy, nutritious food to put on their tables, and food prices can only rise if our climate becomes more unstable and farming becomes less predictable. In addition, most carbon-emitting activities result in pollution beyond just the carbon, and I have had first-hand experience with patients who have had lung and heart conditions as a result of exposure to that pollution.

To do my job as a doctor effectively, I have to rely on scientific research and studies. If I ignore research that I don't like, my patients suffer from sub-optimal care. Climate policy is no different. It would be wonderful if we could continue as we have in the past without suffering consequences to the health of Ontario's citizens. But that is not the case, and we do our citizens a disservice by pretending that climate change isn't happening or doesn't have the consequences on our health that we can already see happening.

I know that pricing carbon is a controversial approach. If there were an easier way to bring down carbon emissions, one that didn't result in higher taxes or higher prices on goods, I would be in favour of that. Yet, every shred of evidence says that pricing carbon is the most effective way to bring down carbon emissions. There simply isn't a better alternative. As much as I loathe facing the possibility of higher taxes or goods increasing in price, these are necessary evils. And in the long-term, these prices will be worth it. The damage from climate change to our economy is already starting to grow and will snowball as time goes on unless we act. We can either pay a small amount today, or much, much more tomorrow. For my sake, for my patient's sake, and for my children's sake, I can afford that small cost today, in order to save us all much greater costs in the future.