Ford says Ontario on track for 2030 emissions targets despite auditor’s doubts

Thestar.com
Dec. 9, 2019
Rob Ferguson

It’s too early to judge Ontario’s climate change plan, Premier Doug Ford insists in the wake of a sternly worded independent report warning the province is not on track to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Ford took issue with the conclusions reached by provincial auditor general Bonnie Lysyk, who devoted a separate 180-page volume in her annual report to the Progressive Conservative government’s handling of environmental matters.

She found Ford’s climate change plan is not based on “sound evidence” and is likely to fall as much as two-thirds below the target of lowering greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by the end of the next decade.

“We have a 10-year plan and I don’t know how many people can criticize it until we get to 2030,” the premier said Friday in Ottawa.

“I’m very confident we have a great plan, we’re going to hit our targets,” he added. “I think we’re well on our way, but I want to thank the auditor general.”

Ford cited plans to build the new Ontario Line subway from the east end of Toronto through downtown by 2027 and a memorandum of understanding signed with New Brunswick and Saskatchewan to help develop small, modular nuclear reactors as emission-free electricity sources as examples of how his government will meet the targets.

“We have to start looking at technology.”

But critics said the new subway line, even if built on schedule, won’t be on time to make much of a difference to emissions in terms of taking cars off the road by 2030 and the small nuclear reactors are still in the design stage with no working models or federal nuclear approvals, making any impact years away.

“There’s a lot of proven technology out there that can address the climate crisis but the premier is busy ripping it out of the ground at the cost of $231 million,” Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said in a reference to the Energy Minister Greg Rickford’s decision to cancel more than 750 renewable energy projects in July 2018.

“Meanwhile, he’s talking about unproven technology that isn’t going to deliver a solution probably within the next decade at the earliest, if it ever does,” Schreiner added in a nod to the small nuclear plants.

Environment Minister Jeff Yurek has acknowledged the government has “more work to do” on the climate plan and said it will “evolve” over time as new technologies and ideas come forward --leaving Schreiner and groups like Environmental Defence and Greenpeace worried not enough action will be taken soon enough.

“Clearly the government’s plan is bogus and the premier just simply needs to admit it and produce a new plan that’s actually going to meet our climate obligations and help Ontario be a leader in the fast-growing clean economy,” the Green leader said.

“I don’t think he understands the urgency of the crisis or what it’s going to take to address it. He almost seems to be in this alternate reality where it’s like ‘if I just keep saying we’re doing something, people will believe it,’ even though the auditor general has proven him wrong.”

Among other things, the auditor general’s report noted the government plan relies on a massive increase in the number of electric cars on the road to reduce greenhouse gases even though sales fell by half after Ford scrapped financial incentives for motorists to buy them.

“On the one hand, Premier Ford’s plan counts on the number of electric cars increasing, and on the other, this government cancelled key policies that help get them on the road,” said Sarah Petrevan, policy director at Clean Energy Canada.