The Star examines where Ontario’s parties stand on key issues that matter to voters as Ontario gets ready for the June 2 elections. Today we’ll be looking at the environment.
Over the past four years, the Progressive Conservative government and its leader Doug Ford have drawn heavy criticism for their approach to protecting Ontario’s environment.
The government has been known for using minister’s zoning ordersMZOs, also known as MZOs, are used to speed up construction projects. The party continues. Cap-and-trade ended, restricted conservation authorities758 renewable energy have been cancelled Contracts. The PC plan to build is also under fire Highway 413The Bradford Bypass. Critics worry that the construction will damage biodiversity and the Greenbelt, while also opening up the province to housing sprawl. Through it all, the PCs have maintained they’ll hit climate targets.
Keith Brooks, programs director at environmental advocacy organization Environmental Defence, said the election “matters a lot when it comes to the future of this province and its environment.” This decade is “critical” for addressing climate change, he said, noting Ontario needs a government which takes climate change seriously. Brooks stated that parties should aim to reduce their emissions by 60% of 2005 levels by 2030.
Protecting the Greenbelt, farmland, fresh water and the province’s endangered species is duly important, he added, noting new housing should not contribute to sprawl, but rather should be added to existing urban areas.
Here’s how the parties plan to achieve Ontario’s climate targets.
Ontario Progressive Conservatives
Ivana Yelich, spokesperson for PC, stated that highway construction is necessary in order to break the gridlock facing Southern Ontario. She also defended the government’s environmental record, pointing to extensive government and private investment in electric vehicle production, as well as helping ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s steel plant in Hamilton and Algoma Steel’s Sault Ste. Marie facility produces cleaner steel. ArcelorMittal’s $1.8 billion project will replace blast furnaces and coke ovens that were coal-fed with low-emission technology.
“These two initiatives alone (ArcelorMittal and Dofasco) are equivalent to taking nearly two million vehicles off the roads,” Yelich said.
“By ramping up manufacturing of hybrids, electrical vehicles, and electric batteries, coupled with clean steel production, we are showing that our province can hit its climate targets without imposing more taxes on everyday Ontarians.“
Ontario New Democratic Party
As part of their election platform, the NDP has a number of environmental pledges. Their “Green New Deal” includes reaching “net zero” green-house gas emissions by 2050, introducing a new cap-and-trade system, and planting a billion trees by 2030. The party is also pledging that 25 per cent of revenue from the new cap-and-trade system would go to financial supports for rural, Northern and low-income families “disproportionately affected” by carbon pricing.
The party also promised to develop the so called Ring of Fire, an area of Northern Ontario rich with minerals that can be used in the development of electric vehicles. Environmental advocates and some First Nations have raised concerns that mining the area could damage the area’s peat lands, which are a valuable carbon sink that keeps CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.
Asked how the party squares its environmental commitments with its promise to develop the Ring of Fire, Michael Mantha, the NDP’s candidate for the riding which includes the area said the choice isn’t mining or environmental stewardship.
“The NDP is committed to get the Ring Fire project moving with transparency, and sustainability. For some Northern, remote and Indigenous communities, this project is about equity and opportunity,” said Mantha, who’s running in Algoma-Manitoulin. “Environmental justice is all about our move to net zero being fully equitable.”
Green Party of Ontario
The party proposed an aggressive plan to cut emissions and protect the environment — and that begins with a new law the Greens would implement, dubbed the Zero Carbon Law.
The law, the Greens say, would set a “fair share” carbon budget for the province which would limit all greenhouse gas emissions to 1,630 megatonnes until 2100. Carbon pricing would rise by $25 per tonne each year, reaching $300 per tonne in 2032. According to the plan, the revenues would be returned as dividends to Ontarians.
The Greens would also look at retrofitting 40 per cent of existing homes to be net-zero, a move they say will create “hundreds of thousands” of new jobs. The party also plans on switching to renewable, clean energies, including green hydrogen. This energy process generates hydrogen using renewable sources like water.
They claim that electricity will double with renewables by 2040 and that everything that can be electric will be. The plan aims to reduce fossil fuel pollution by half by 2030 and to virtually eliminate it by 2040 through increased access to electric vehicles for personal transport.
Conservation authorities would be strengthened under the Green’s plan.
Ontario Liberal Party
Liberals You have pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, protect 30 per cent of the province’s land and expand the green belt. The party also announced that it would scrap Highway 413 and reevaluate the environmental impact of Bradford Bypass.
In a platform that was released earlier this month, the Liberals laid out their plan for dealing with the climate crisis. They aim to create a green economy, and reduce emissions. The Liberals plan to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from carbon dioxide and methane by more that 50% by 2030.
As for the “green economy” the party has suggested, the environment plan aims to create 25,000 green jobs and invest $9 billion over four years for a “clean economy plan.” The Liberals are also pledging to strengthen Ontario’s carbon pricing system, which would require some industries to further slash emissions.
The party also indicated that it will be looking into green hydrogen generation and pledging to offer electric vehicle rebates up to $9,500.
