I am highly disappointed in…

I am highly disappointed in the decision of Premier Ford and the Ontario PC majority to withdraw from Ontario's participation in the Western Climate Initiative, repealing the Climate Change Mitigation and Low-Carbon Economy Act (CCMLEA) through this bill which makes no detailed or even substantive effort to establish a new emissions reduction plan for the province of Ontario.

Choosing to deny the reality of catastrophic climate change that is already occurring and that will harm Ontario's economy, environment and human health is irresponsible and frightening. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released by the UN just this month (October 2018) makes it extremely clear that we need to take action globally at a fast pace to prevent climate change at a scale never before experienced in the entirety of human existence. In a world where we have warmed by 2 degrees Celsuis, extreme weather causing billions in damages, widespread food shortages and the displacement of hundreds of millions of people from entire nations is predicted. Canada is a party to the 2015 UNFCC Paris Agreement which aims to limit total anthropogenic warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Under this agreement Canada agreed to limit greenhouse gas emissions nationally 30% below 2005 levels by 2030, a target which we nationally are already not on track to meet. Ontario's emissions targets under the CCMLEA aimed to reduce emissions cumulatively 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, and at the very minimum they were moderately ambitious and supported by participation in the WCI program covering all emitting sectors of our economy through free-market carbon pricing allowing for lower-cost emissions reductions fairly and efficiently.

Bill 4 Cap and Trade Cancellation Act does not provide for any concrete or specific action that will be taken by the government of Ontario to achieve the new emissions reductions targets referred to in section 3(1) of the act nor does it specify how such targets will take into account what IPCC benchmarks have established to be the safe amount of emissions to continue to support a stable global climate. We are living in scary times and the recent IPCC report makes it clear that we have roughly a scant decade left to prevent catastrophic global climate change, which we have already begun to experience here in Ontario through more extreme forest fires such as the Parry Sound 33 fire stimulated by a hotter than average 2018 summer or increased tick presence in northern zones, carrying diseases that can cause chronic illness.

In conclusion Bill 4's lack of actual commitment to climate change mitigation is highly irresponsible and a great failure of leadership that will have effects on the lives of our children and generations to come.