NEWMARKET Steven Del Duca presented the Ontario Liberal Environment Plan. It will expand the Greenbelt, reduce transit fares by $1, cut carbon pollution in half, and aid high-emitting sectors in reducing their environmental impact.
Del Duca said that the Ontario Liberals have released an environmental plan today. They offer two choices: Doug Ford, who wants billions to be spent on a highway to improve traffic, or an Ontario Liberal government that will provide smart, affordable ways for families and make sustainable choices.
The Ford Conservatives tore up Ontario’s climate action plan and chose to fight progress rather than combat climate change. They have spent $30 million on Federal carbon pricing court battles, fined small businesses who refused to display their faulty gas pump stickers, shredded clean energy contracts, and wasted $30 million in court costs.
According to Del Duca, traffic has become worse under the Doug Ford Conservatives. Commutes are becoming more expensive and carbon emissions are expected to rise. They want to invest $10 billion in the Highway 413, which will eliminate a large portion of the Greenbelt and reduce commute times by just seconds.
The environmentally-friendly choices Ontario Liberals are offering voters include:
- You can cut transit fares down to $1 from now through 2024, thereby reducing the number of daily car trips by 400,000
- Reduce pollution by half by 2030
- To ensure that the largest polluters are doing their part to reduce our 50% target, the Conservatives will strengthen the requirements of their existing industrial Emissions Performance Standards.
- Expand the Greenbelt and designate 30% of Ontario land as protected, up from 10%
- Stop Highway 413, and take responsibility for maintaining critical highways.
- Get a 30% discount of up to $500 for e-bikes
- Get up to $9.500 in rebates for non-luxury electric vehicle and vehicle charging gear
- Grants of up to $3000 per year are available to individuals and businesses that want to make eco-friendly renovations, such as new windows, insulation, heat pump, and flood protection.
- Create 25,000 green-jobs and a Green Jobs Fund to invest in clean technology innovations made in Ontario;
- Increase funding for bike lanes, cycling trails, bike sharing, rental services, and secure bike storage.
The Ford Conservatives’ inaction on climate change is costing families their time and hard-earned cash. This causes congestion to worsen, insurance rates and food prices to soar, as well as insurance rates to rise and insurance rates to spike.
The cost of climate change should fall on polluters and not families. Del Duca concluded that the Ford Conservatives would rather give green space to their developers friends than take action to combat climate change.
Key facts
- The Ford Conservatives’ lack of leadership in climate change will cause carbon-emissions from electricity generation skyrocket to 600%.
- Companies that emit more than 50k tonnes of greenhouse gases per year are currently included in the Conservatives industrial Emissions Performance Standards. These include cement, chemicals and petroleum refineries.
- Ontario Liberals will protect 30% of Ontario’s land, up from 10% in 2020, and increase the size and number provincial parks, including expanding Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.
- The plan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by half compared to 2005 levels by 2030, and reach net-zero emissions in 2050.
- The plan will also divert and reuse 60% of waste by 2030, and 85% in 2050.
- Buck-a ride will take an estimated 400,000 cars off of the road each day by encouraging commuters and commuters choose transit, improving commute times, and reducing gridlock.
- A regular East Gwillimbury GO commuter to Toronto Union will be able to save $10.40 per fare, and $302.15 per month with Buck-a-ride.