Today, the Ford Government held their sixth event in less than a month misleading Ontarians about our plan to put a price on pollution and return the revenue to Ontarians. Six events against our concrete plan to fight climate change, while wasting $30 million of taxpayers’ dollars to fight climate action in court.
Now we’ve learned that the Ford Government will be spending taxpayers’ dollars on stickers that intentionally mislead Ontarians about our plan, and do not include the amount of money that people are getting back, or the cost of inaction on climate change.
It’s clear that Doug Ford cares more about wasting taxpayers’ dollars on misleading stickers, than on helping Ontarians save money and energy, or on coming up with a meaningful climate plan.
His decision comes the week after scientists made it clear Canada is warming at double the global rate. We need to be doing more, not less, and yet Conservative politicians like Doug Ford and Andrew Scheer want to take us back to the decade of inaction under Stephen Harper.
We have a responsibility as a government to build a cleaner economy that will create good jobs for the middle class, and make their health and safety our priority. Our Government has a serious, affordable plan to tackle climate change that includes putting a price on pollution and giving the money back because it works.
As a government we have been clear about our commitment to middle class Canadians, whether it's by cutting taxes for the middle class and raising them on the 1%, lifting 300,000 children out of poverty through the Canada Child Benefit, enhancing the Canada Pension Plan, or the $307 that a family of four in Ontario will get back from the Climate Action Incentive when they file their taxes this year.
The changing climate is the greatest risk to human health in the 21stcentury, and those health harms are disproportionately borne by younger Canadians. Our government is obligated to protect our children and future generations from climate change and pricing pollution is an important health intervention.
Doug Ford and Andrew Scheer have no real plan to fight our changing climate. It's been 344 days since Mr. Scheer said he'd release his climate change plan and Canadians are still waiting. While Conservative politicians continue to ignore the experts and stick their heads in the sand on climate change, our Government will continue to step up and take meaningful action.
For more information on the climate backstop in effect in Ontario :
Joint Statement:
- Hon. Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
- MP Pam Damoff, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health