The failure of Ontario’s budget to directly address climate change represents a “serious abdication of responsibility” by the government, some critics argue, saying the province needs to do more quickly to adapt to a changing climate.
The budget presented Tuesday cites investments in climate-friendly public transportation, electric vehicle manufacturing and preservation, but critics say it mostly fails to say how the government will specifically help communities mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to their realities.
“This is a gross abdication of responsibility because the climate crisis continues to worsen,” said Keith Brooks, program director at Environmental Defense, an environmental advocacy organization.
“Many of the tools that need to be used to solve the climate crisis are in the provincial toolbox.”
The 200-page budget makes only two references to climate change, both in sections on the sustainable bond program, which the government uses to raise money to finance projects deemed environmentally friendly.
The federal carbon price, on the other hand, rose 10-fold in the Finance Minister’s budget speech when he criticized Ottawa’s move.
As last summer’s extreme heat and wildfires gave way to the warmest winter on record, threatening tourism sectors and melting winter roads to remote First Nations, critics say the government needs to show it is better prepared. .
“This is not a government that is serious about addressing one of the big problems of our time,” said Gideon Forman, Ontario climate change and transportation policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation.
In a statement, the Environment Minister’s press secretary mentioned a number of budget initiatives, including green bonds to finance “extreme weather-resistant infrastructure” and clean steel production.
“We have shown that the environment can be protected without a costly, job-killing carbon tax,” said Alex Catherwood, press secretary to Minister Andrea Khanjin.
Meanwhile, the governments of Quebec and British Columbia included climate change in their recent budgets. Quebec’s budget included a section on the environment and adaptation to climate change, along with an investment of $127.5 million over five years. British Columbia’s budget pledged $1 billion for climate-related initiatives, including a beefed-up response to wildfires.
Ontario’s budget allocates $81 million less for wildfire suppression this year than last year, a drop of 38 per cent.
But Catherwood said it would be “completely inaccurate” to suggest the planned spending was a budget cut, saying the government would “spare no expense to ensure the safety of people, property and communities”.
Catherwood said base funding for fire emergency preparedness had nearly doubled to $135.9 million since 2018, with additional support for firefighter retention and recruitment.
It comes as experts say climate change is intensifying wildfires and warn 2024 could rival last year’s season.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner says the money budgeted, however, shows “that we have a Ford government that is woefully unprepared for the climate crisis.”
“If you talk to wildland firefighters, they’ll tell you it’s much better to spend the money if we prepare properly in advance rather than reacting after, in last year’s case, a million acres were on fire,” Schreiner told journalists this week.
The government’s fiscal watchdog and its own climate assessment report have warned that climate change threatens to disrupt everything from infrastructure to food security.
Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office reported in November that the dangers of a changing climate could add more than $4 billion per year to the cost of maintaining Ontario’s public infrastructure. The report says the province and municipalities could reduce that cost by proactively making hospitals, schools, stormwater pipes and other public infrastructure more resilient to extreme heat and precipitation.
Businesses have also pushed for the government to be better prepared for the climate. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce, in response to the budget, urged the province to take “bold action” in the second half of its term to support climate resilience through a climate adaptation and mitigation plan.
Environmental Defense’s Brooks said the budget appears to indicate the government is ignoring “all the evidence that tells us we need to invest more in mitigating emissions and adapting to climate change that is already assured.”
The government has received praise from some environmental groups for certain initiatives.
The budget’s $20 million investment over four years in the Green Land Conservation Partnership was welcomed by Nature Conservancy Canada and the Ontario Land Trust Alliance, two non-profit partners in the program.
The fund is used to purchase private land and convert it into local and regional land trusts, protecting 167,000 hectares of land since the program’s launch in 2020.
“The conservation of natural spaces plays an important role in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change by providing safe havens from wildfires, capturing and storing carbon and improving resilience to weather events, such as floods and droughts,” said Dana Kleniewski of Nature Conservancy Canada. acting regional vice president in Ontario, he wrote in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2024.