Dear Cap and Trade – Help…

Dear Cap and Trade – Help Desk,

Re: ERO # 013-3738 – Bill 4, Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018

The City of Hamilton Healthy Environments Division is committed to working collaboratively with provincial agencies to help improve and ensure the health of citizens in Hamilton and across Ontario. Please accept the following commentary from the City of Hamilton Healthy Environments Division on Bill 4, Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018.

Like other Ontario cities, Hamilton continues to experience climate change effects which have created significant impacts on our citizens and financial pressures on the City. These impacts include:

• Increased and more frequent extreme precipitation events causing flooding;

• Increased extreme heat, greater number and duration of heat days, causing drought conditions that is resulting in significant public health concerns and costly tree removal;

• More frequent and severe extreme wind and freezing rain, causing the deterioration of Hamilton’s shoreline, naturalized areas and infrastructure damages;

• More frequent extreme shifts in temperature causing increased frequency of the freeze-thaw cycle, leading to erosion of Hamilton’s escarpment causing landslides and damaging our critical underground infrastructure services, including our drinking water pipes that have left residents without water for weeks at a time.

Individual citizens, especially vulnerable populations including low income families, are the most affected by the impacts of climate change. Without government programs or funding sources to help mitigate Green House Gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change, these vulnerable populations will continue to unfairly suffer the impacts.

Programs that motivate and enable organizations to make positive changes, with associated performance frameworks and objectives, have proven successful in Hamilton, by creating a lower carbon economy and creating jobs. These programs provided funds to schools, social housing and green infrastructure for the conservation of energy, which drastically decreases energy costs and makes a big difference in low and medium income households.

Additionally, programs can enable industry to make positive changes. As an example, in Hamilton, steel remains a dominant industry and contributes significantly to local GHG emissions. Stelco was able to access $10.5 million to help transition to bio-carbon instead of coal to heat the steel mill’s blast furnace. Not only has this reduced local GHG emissions and provided a potential template for steel to enter the low-carbon era, but it will result in improved Hamilton air quality overall, thus improving the health of our local population.

A provincially-led action plan that focuses on climate mitigation and adaptation will be extremely important for Hamilton, and other Ontario municipalities, to avoid losing pace with the impacts of a changing climate that will continue to place the health of the public at risk.

We look forward to playing an active role with the provincial government and other Ontario municipalities to develop programs that drive positive change to tackle this growing challenge.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Senior Project Manager - Air Quality & Climate Change within the City of Hamilton Healthy Environments Division.

Sincerely,

The Medical Officer of Health,
City of Hamilton