Your proposal to cancel Cap …

Your proposal to cancel Cap & Trade will hurt many PEOPLE and communities. I can tell you that initiatives which were in place because of Cap and Trade were helpful and positively felt in our community.

For example, the GreenON was a great way to make homes more efficient, benefitting all who took part in it by lower energy costs. GreenON is a great program to teach people just how influential they are on their energy bills. This is the only way to help make the connection on "more energy used = higher electricity/gas bill". You are trying to take away an ability to help ourselves, even if we don't have a lot of money. You also are taking away an initiative to make social housing more efficient. You're saying that help for those people who are not well off is not part of your platform Mr. Ford. Cities are struggling as is, don't make it any worse.

Another initiative that you are cancelling is the funding to help Ontario schools replace windows and take on other energy saving initiatives so they can concentrate on teaching our children. With the aging school infrastructure and the changing weather patterns, this is the optimal way to keep our children comfortable while they learn.

I can tell you that my community has greatly benefitted from another initiative, funding of cycling infrastructure. I am a driver and I am a cyclist. I think inclusion of infrastructure for cyclists on our roads and it's building benefits us all. It offers a safe way to get around for those who want to use bicycles as part of their commute or recreation. It helps keep road congestion by cars down in cities as bicycles are a great way to get around, especially shorter distances of up to 20 km. That means less drivers on the roads. This can only happen though if cyclists feel safe on the roads and the only way to do this is provide bicycle lanes and educating all about respect for one another.

I know that the Cap and Trade benefits us all and holds those who pollute accountable to the communities they operate in. Hamilton has the worst air shed in Ontario because it is home to some of the heaviest industry in the province. We, as citizens struggle to balance economic needs and the health of our citizens. We want to make sure that the companies like Arcelor Mittal Dofasco, Stelco, Ruetgers and others are held accountable to what they emit into the environment. We have taken the blunt of their pollution for decades and it shows with our skyrocketing cancer rates and cardiac illness rates. Even with the current air standards the progress is slow.

To conclude, I would like to reinforce my suggestion against cancelling Cap & Trade. It has great benefits to all Ontarians at a very small cost to those that are required to offset their emissions. After all, they operate in our communities and frankly, employing citizens is no longer the only acceptable prerequisite, our health of our community matters too, not just the ones that work in these places. Of course, it also benefits our environment by keeping carbon out of the atmosphere too and gives those companies that exceed emissions a great incentive to cut their emissions. Don't cut Cap and Trade.