I am writing to you as a…

I am writing to you as a health care professional with a background in Environmental Studies and Sustainable Agriculture. I have a good understanding of climate change and the impacts we are seeing around the world and in our own backyard in Ontario. Extreme weather events from storms that have caused severe flooding on the Toronto Islands and in people's basements in Burlington, forest fires in our beautiful provincial parks, and apocalyptic devastation in Dunrobin, are becoming more frequent and costing Ontarians billions of dollars to recover from. The severity and frequency of these events is directly related to climate change and the amount of green house gases, especially carbon, that we keep burning and emitting into the atmosphere.

Canada has made promises to it's citizens and the global community to be a leader in the fight against climate change and to date we are falling very short of that commitment. This week, the world has received further affirmation that we must keep our Paris Climate Agreement commitments with the release of a stark new UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report stating that we have a very limited time frame to ensure that the global temperature does not rise beyond 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. A recent report from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario echos the urgency of the situation. In light of the fact that the Nobel Prize for Economics has just been awarded to someone who proved the efficacy of putting a price on carbon in addressing the climate crisis, ending a program that puts a price on carbon is absolutely the wrong thing for Ontario to be doing at this time. The funding from carbon pricing can also have many benefits to the economy in Ontario and across Canada. If Ontario abandons the green energy economy wholesale, Ontarians will lose out on many opportunities. I don't want Ontarians to be shut out of the $26 trillion dollar clean energy economy that could create 65 million new jobs, thousands of them in Ontario. I want a bright and healthy future for everyone in Ontario, and as the UN Secretary General stated, that will require us to take urgent, unprecedented, and collective action on climate change. I want Ontario to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. To that end, this is what I would like to see from the Ontario government:

A strong climate change plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help people save energy and create jobs in the $26 trillion clean economy.

A price on pollution, namely carbon, making polluters pay for their emissions and returning the revenues to the pockets of Ontarians so they can lower their carbon footprint.

Legally binding emissions targets in line with, and exceeding our obligations to the Paris Climate Agreement.

A plan to get Ontario to 100% renewable energy before 2050.

An end to Ontario subsidies and handouts for fossil fuel companies and a redirection of this money to clean energy solutions.

I urge you to take up the challenge of making Ontario the great leader in the fight against climate change that it can be. With strong action to address climate change, everyone wins!