Province says it won’t force green changes

Opposition says planned ban on natural gas in homes will hit Ontarian pocketbooks

Thestar.com
May 25, 2016
By Robert Benzie

Government measures designed to fight climate change will be “completely voluntary” and relatively painless, promises Environment Minister Glen Murrary.

Murray, who is putting the final touches on a greenhouse gas emission reduction “action plan” to be released within the next three weeks, said Ontarians have nothing to fear.

“This is a plan with a big basket of carrots and no sticks,” the minister said Wednesday as he pledged to deliver the details before the house rises for the summer break on June 9.

“It’s like recycling - all you had to do was put a Blue Box in front of someone’s house and they took care. You didn’t have to do any forcing,” he said, flanked by Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ted McMeekin.

The plan, which was developed by more than a dozen government ministries, will be unveiled just before Premier Kathleen Wynne’s major cabinet shuffle in the middle of next month.

That means some of the ministers who helped craft the strategy may not be directly involved in implementing it.

Speaking to reporters at a Parkdale apartment building equipped with solar panels and a high-efficiency heating and cooling system, Murray said the government would be investing $500 million to retrofit social housing apartments with better insulation and energy-saving windows.

As well, there will be a $400 million incentive program for private residential apartments that will offer rebates or grants to help cover the cost of environmentally efficient renovations.

Starting next year gasoline prices will rise 4.3 cents a litre and natural gas costs will increase by about $5 a month as the government ramps ups its carbon-pricing plan.

Murray said it would mean a $13 per month hit for consumers, though that will be offset by savings in energy costs and rebates.

“The consciousness level of Ontarians about climate change is at an all-time high. I think people are very concerned about their children and the kind of planet they’re growing up on and they want to know what to do,” he said.

That’s why Ontario - which has embarked upon a cap-and-trade system with Quebec and California - will be sweetening incentives to encourage motorists to switch to electric vehicles and building more charging stations.

Under cap-and-trade, industries will have greenhouse gas limits - or caps - and those coming in under theirs can trade credits, which should create an economic incentive to pollute less.
Over the years, caps will be gradually lowered to decrease pollution and, the government hopes, spur innovation of new greener technologies.

“There isn’t any coercion in here,” said Murray, who acknowledged there has been confusion surrounding whether natural gas would be phased out as a heating fuel, which is not the plan.

“It is a tension. There’s early discussions about different things, sometimes replaced by others,” he said, referring to draft copies swirling around.

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale-High Park) said she wants to see the final details of the climate change action plan to determine the impact on Ontario residents.

“Yes, it’s great to retrofit buildings ... but this can’t just be a gift to landlords without expecting some response in terms of looking after their tenants,” said DiNovo.

“So we’re hoping that tenants get a break, too.”

While Murray praised the New Democrats for taking climate change seriously, he chided the Progressive Conservatives for stoking fears about the cost of curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

“There’s other politicians in Ontario - not in our government and not in Cheri’s party, but in other places - that are going to a great extent to confuse people,” he said.

In a statement, Conservative MPP Lisa Thompson dismissed cap-and-trade as a cash grab designed to raise $1.9 billion in annual “revenue to fund existing government programs and new subsidy schemes.”

Thompson castigated the “Liberals’ radical climate plan, which includes Premier Kathleen Wynne’s commitment to ban natural gas heating in homes.”

“This drastic policy will affect 76 per cent of Ontarians and increase heating bills by $3,000 a year,” she said.