Doug Ford’s government has been no friend to the environment

By Lindsay Advocate

Natural areas are under threat from Ontario Conservative government, says writer. Photo: Jerry Holder.

By Spencer MacPherson

Since 2018 when Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario PC Party took power at the provincial level, there has been no shortage of concern caused by the governments persistent shunning of environmental considerations in favour of economic ventures.

Less than a week after taking power, Ford put a stop to the provinces cap-and-trade carbon program, which was implemented to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The elimination of this program was implemented without public consultation.

Over the next couple of years, Ford’s government would make their agenda clear – it would be economics over the environment.

After decommissioning the cap-and-trade program, Ford cancelled over 750 contracts of renewable energy projects and then added legislation that made prioritizing clean energy more difficult and less appealing to industry.

Next in his crosshairs was the Environmental Commissioners Office, an independent body designed to increase accountability and oversight of the provincial government’s environmental performance — a watchdog of sorts. What do you do when you don’t want to be monitored? You fire the monitor, of course.

In the following months, the provincial government would drastically lower protections for endangered species, weaken the provincial environmental assessment process, cut conservation authorities’ budgets for flood mitigation, and find a way to further fast-track development on provincially owned lands, including designated wetlands.

Ford seems bent on a mission to create a legacy of development and urban sprawl at a time when the entire world is starting to wake up to the need for a greener approach to governing. This is blatantly obvious in his misguided rejuvenation of Highway 413, the backbone of his re-election campaign, which would see construction right through the Greenbelt.

The icing on the soot-covered cake is Bill 229, Section 6. The gist of this legislation is a decrease in the ability of our Conservation Authorities’ ability to protect our natural resources from the impacts of development, while simultaneously giving developers a fast track to permits.

All of this emphasizes the need for us, here in Kawartha Lakes, to think and act locally. Speaking with Mark Majchrowski of Kawartha Conservation, he reminded me that we can still have positive impacts on our communities and our families.

When asked how we can help Kawartha Conservation continue to protect our waterways and land, Majchrowski suggested “taking it back to the roots” of volunteering, getting involved, and educating ourselves and our children of the effect our individual actions on our habitat and our town. Educating ourselves about policy and legislation is crucial in ensuring we have representatives who are addressing our needs for our environment’s future.

–Spencer MacPherson is a Fleming College student in his last semester of the Ecosystem Management Technology program. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

*