Doug Ford takes Ontario in the wrong direction amid sobering UN climate change warning

NDP Energy and Climate Change critic Peter Tabuns said that by cancelling every green energy program and climate change initiative, and doing nothing to replace them, Doug Ford is taking Ontario backwards in the fight against climate change – and that flies in the face of a late weekend United Nations (UN) report warning that the world will have to do more, or face devastating consequences.

“Doug Ford scrapped a cap-and-trade deal that saw big polluters pay and Ontario families reap the benefits. Those efforts were not only delivering cleaner air and lakes, but also more funding to repair old school heating systems, add better ventilation units in retirement homes, and help families pay for new windows for their home when the time came,” said Tabuns. “Now, Ontario doesn’t have a plan to meet the emission targets we already have, let alone do more to prevent the devastating consequences of climate change the UN report calls for.

“Let me be clear: Doug Ford’s war on the environment will have financial consequences for Ontario families, it will have consequences for the quality and cleanliness of our own air and water, and it will contribute to a worsening climate crisis around the world.”

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sobering new report, issued Sunday, warns of the consequences of increased warming by another one degree Celsius, saying that limiting warming by half a degree would mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. The report comes just weeks after Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Dianne Saxe issued a report condemning Doug Ford for gutting climate change programs without offering any replacement efforts whatsoever.

Tabuns said that in Ford’s first 100 days in office, it’s clear that big polluters will always win over everyday Ontarians as long as Doug Ford is in charge.

“Doug Ford has created a free-for-all for polluters to destroy our environment and leave the province to pay for the consequences,” said Tabuns. “By going to bat for big polluters, Ford has ripped up hundreds of legal contracts with smaller businesses, shattering business confidence and costing jobs. By spending millions to take the federal government to court just to get out of climate change obligation, Ford is spending even more of Ontario people’s money.

“No one voted for more pollution. People deserve so much better than a government taking Ontario backwards, and having us all pay extra for it.”