Dear MPP, I am a student…

Dear MPP,

I am a student studying at Central Peel Secondary School, and I have a dream. My dream is to live in an Ontario characterized by transit-friendly communities, permanently protected green space and a thriving agricultural industry. I wish to see Canada, mainly Ontario to be as sustainable a community as possible. I envision a community which will be fully sustainable and be able to support the growing community of Ontarians. The gears for this are already turning, but we need to ensure, as a community, that it keeps turning and in the right direction. The Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe is what we need to strive for, a plan to ensure an environmentally, politically, socially and economically sustainable community.

The recent changes made to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe go against my liking, and I strongly disagree with the new amendments that have been made for the Climate Change issue. Amendment 2.1 in the Growth Plan suggests that deleting “Ontario’s Climate Change Strategy, 2015 reaffirms the government’s commitment to meet its long-term targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 37 per cent by 2030 and by 80 per cent by 2050. Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan 2016, outlines a range of actions related to fighting climate change that can assist with achieving the goals and objectives of this Plan. This Plan contributes towards the Climate Change Action Plan’s goal of moving towards low-carbon communities, with the long-term goal of net-zero (communities)”, and adding “Ontario has recently affirmed its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 in the proposed. Preserving and Protecting our Environment for Future Generations: A Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan. This target aligns Ontario with Canada’s 2030 target under the Paris Agreement.” is stating that the goal has been decreased significantly.

In 1990, the total amount of CO2 emissions was 176 Megatons, and in 2005 it was 206 Megatons. By implementing the new amendment, they reduced their goal significantly, as 37% of 1990’s CO2 emissions is greater than 30% of 2005’s emissions. By decreasing the goal, it either means the goal is not going to be met, or it will be nearly impossible to meet it. By decreasing the goal, it makes it much easier for the goal to be met, but what do we get in return? If we would strive for the previous goal, then we all would have had to work much harder, and tried more to meet the previous goal’s requirements. If that was how it was, then Ontario would have been much more sustainable up until 2030, and the CO2 emissions would have decreased by a lot.

Furthermore, I believe that some necessary actions need to be taken, such as going back on the previous goal, and ensuring actions that need to be taken to ensure a environmentally sustainable community. Although I disagree with this amendment, many of the other ones, I agree with. In my opinion, those are great changes that need to be taken, to ensure that Ontario is a sustainable community in the future.

My best regards,
A concerned citizen