Image courtesy Electric Autonomy Canada.
With advanced polls open across the province and the parties’ campaigns in full swing, politics is yet again front of mind for many Ontarians. The general election will take place on Thursday, June 2 and it’s been widely reported that the cost of living is by far the number one voting issue in this post-pandemic time and it’s easy to see why: gas prices, rental costs, housing market and even groceries are all seeing record high prices.
Among the other top issues are transit, housing, Indigenous People’s issues, mental health and small business. One thing that’s been notably left out of a fair amount of the conversations surrounding this year’s Ontario Provincial election is the climate crisis. But fear not, Water Docs is here to bring you up to speed on where each of the main parties stand on this particular issue.
Below is a breakdown of the main parties’ key promises regarding climate.
The Progressive Conservative Party
While the party didn’t release a new official platform for this election, many of their campaign promises can be found in the 2022 Ontario budget. When it comes to the climate, the Tories are promising to invest heavily into electric vehicle manufacturing and helping large steel manufactures make a cleaner product.
However it’s no secret that when it comes to climate issues, the Progressive Conservative party often takes a backseat approach. For more on that read this article from the CBC.
The Liberal Party
The Libs are promising to “…cut Ontario’s carbon pollution in half by 2030, expand the Greenbelt and create five provincial parks and cut fares to $1 a ride for transit anywhere in Ontario.”
To help them achieve some of these promises they have stated:
“...we’ll cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, creating green jobs, making electric vehicles more affordable and preparing our homes for climate change.”
“We’ll expand the Greenbelt and designate 30% of our land as protected areas by 2030. As part of this expansion, we’ll add five new provincial parks across Ontario. To help restore our tree canopy and keep our air pristine, we’ll plant 100 million trees a year over the next eight years, focused on restoring ecosystems and protecting drinking water.”
The New Democrat Party
The NDP are promising to, “reach net-zero emissions by 2050, introduce a new carbon pricing system, create an ambitious building retrofit program, create a Youth Climate Corps and more.”
The New Democrats have made many climate-focussed promises in their campaign, including some exciting initiatives. To help them achieve their promises, they’ve stated:
“We’ll reduce Ontario’s GHG emissions by at least 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, targets consistent with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the most ambitious aspects of the Paris Agreement. We’ll enshrine our GHG reduction targets into law and use a carbon budgeting process to ensure we reach them, consulting with climate scientists, workers, industry and other experts.”
“We’ll give young Ontarians the opportunity to get hands-on skills and experience restoring and enhancing Ontario’s natural landscape, while earning a fair wage, and a fee credit towards post-secondary education.”
The Green Party
The Greens are far and away the party that’s most outspoken about the climate and rightly so - it’s the basis of their whole party. Among their many promises, they intend to, “Double Ontario’s electricity supply by 2040, increase demand for new low-emission vehicles with cash incentives, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs by retrofitting 40% of existing homes and workplaces to net-zero (conservation plus heat pump and solar) by 2030 and 100% by 2040.”
There are almost too many promises to name under the Green platform, so their platform is certainly worth a read for all you climate activists out there.
Ontario Election Day is Thursday, June 2, 2022.
Make your voice heard. Get out and vote!
