Submitted by County Sustainability Group
If Ontario is to do its part to stem global climate change, the election of Doug Ford as Premier of Ontario with unrestricted majority control looks like a major step backwards. We may have just driven over the cliff! It is worth investigating how we got to this point.
The first contributing factor is our first-past-the-post, provincial electoral system that fails to provide proportional representation in Queen’s Park. The second factor is voter apathy, as shown by consistently low voter turnout. Many voters feel their vote is wasted if it doesn’t result in representation by someone in the legislature. Ford vaulted into the Premier’s office with a majority through the support of only 23% of eligible voters. The third factor was Premier Wynne’s failure to step down a year ago when her popularity had plummeted and it was statistically time for new leadership.
Prior to this election, Ontario created a strong green track record that had become the envy of many around the world. We became leaders in developing solar and wind energy. Liberals eliminated coal-fired electricity generation, getting rid of millions of tons of CO2 emissions and eliminating dozens of smog days per year. Long term mismanagement of Hydro One was mostly fixed- it was both paying for itself and our decades-old nuclear debt. The Ontario government should have saved billions by considering the NDP's proposal to replace nuclear with renewable hydro power from Quebec.
Ontario implemented a carbon cap-and-trade program in partnership with California, Quebec and other governments which earned Ontario several billion annually which was used for green initiatives such as the GreenOn program. One of the strongest electric vehicle incentive programs in the world was developed – an ideal companion for wind and solar energy in view of the relatively short term future for fossil fuels and their corresponding CO2 emissions.
But rapid progress in positive directions has its more ‘conservative’ detractors. As the Prince Edward County population ages and becomes suburbanized it has become a global leader in anti-wind hysteria. During the 18 year fight against renewable energy by a small but hard core group, wind farms that would have been producing clean energy to help The County in our fight against climate change were killed. This is not something anyone should now be celebrating. There is an online petition to Save the White Pines Wind Project that now has 12,170 signatures which you can add your name to at https://you.leadnow.ca/petitions/stop-the-white-pines-wind-project-termination-act or by visiting Live, Laugh, Eat Bakery and Variety Shop in Milford at 3020 County Road 10.
While USA and the world has to deal with Trump and his reversals of pro-environmental policies, everyone now has to deal with Ford. Since being elected , his terrible environmental decisions are reckless, short-sighted and show no regard for the health and welfare of this or future generations, not only in Ontario but globally. There are no reasonable justifications for cancelling 758 renewable energy projects, terminating legal ongoing contracts with WPD for the White Pines Wind Farm in PEC, ending the GEEA ( Green Energy & Economy Act ) , withdrawing from the Cap & Trade system, refusing to participate in federally mandated emissions programs, and promoting dangerous and costly nuclear energy.
In the meantime, we have entered the era of ‘The New Norm’: Massive forest fires, rapidly changing weather patterns, extreme heat waves and the exponential rate of extinction of species we share this Earth with. CO2 levels are rising and have reached between 405 and 412 PPM ,O2 production is falling and oceans are warming as a result of human behaviour. Is this the legacy our generation wants to leave for our children and grandchildren to deal with?
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