Get the inside scoop on The Narwhal’s environment and climate reporting by signing up for our free newsletter.
Just over a month after almost one million Ontarians lost power in the midst of a destructive ice storm, the province is proposing to cut the meagre budget of emergency preparedness and response from $70 million to $66.2 million, even as it becomes a standalone ministry for the first time.
The government is also decreasing its budget for emergency forest firefighting, from $177 million to $135 million, even as evacuation orders are already in place in at least one northwestern Ontario community this spring.
These decisions to cut funds put towards the effects of climate change were some of the only mentions of the environment in the budget the Doug Ford government released May 15. Instead, it focused heavily on supporting drivers, with more talk of new and expanded highways (without offering additional funding), a ban on congestion pricing (which is working in New York) and a continued crackdown on the premier’s foe, bike lanes.
Notably, the government has released new details about its long-promised Highway 413: it reconfirmed that it had completed 90 per cent of the “preliminary design work” for Highway 413, wants to start work on embankments and resurfacing and has newly identified “the need to acquire over 500 properties for construction.”
Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy addressed the cuts to emergency and preparedness and firefighting Thursday, telling reporters the government has a contingency fund to cover such things, which doesn’t show up in the budget. “We always put money aside for what we can’t predict might happen,” he said. “But we’re there financially. We’ve always been there, whether it’s fire, floods or whatever may come.”
Bethlenfalvy said the government has taken several actions to address climate risk, which he said “is first and foremost for all of us.” He listed electric vehicle production as a solution even though none have been built in the province yet, noting, “we’re going to have some bumps in the road, but we’re going to get through that.”
Bethlenfalvy mentioned nuclear power generation, which the province has made many promises about, and renewable energy, which it has cancelled more of than it’s seen built. Lower-emissions power can’t come soon enough, as the Independent Electricity System Operator recently reported Ontario’s electricity is now being produced with the highest percentage of fossil fuels since coal plants were operating in the province 20 years ago (back when we had smog days). The increase in natural gas electricity production in Ontario during Ford’s time in office means that the province’s grid was just 84 per cent emissions free last year, down from 96 per cent emissions free seven years ago.
Much of the Ford government’s seventh financial plan feels like business-as-usual in many ways, even as the Progressives Conservatives tout the need to do business differently in the face of economic uncertainty. U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have already materialized into jobs lost and projects stalled across Ontario’s auto sector.
Days earlier, Honda announced it would be pausing plans to build a $15-billion electric-vehicle plant in Alliston, Ont., for at least two years. The delay comes on the heels of news General Motors will be laying off 750 workers at its Oshawa assembly plant.
Still, the Ford government appears to be moving ahead on pledges it made as early as 2018, to build highways and speed up mining in the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, a vast resource of critical minerals needed for electric vehicles — as well as other things, like weapons.
There is little notable progress on these key files in the new budget, but the government has passed a suite of legislation of late to speed things up.
Meanwhile, the government continues to do little to address the threat of climate change, either through tackling the province’s greenhouse gas emissions or recognizing the economic toll of extreme weather. This comes after Ontario’s independent financial markets regulator joined other provinces in deciding to stop work on climate transparency requirements for publicly-traded firms. And while the government made a fleeting acknowledgement of the impact of extreme weather on farms and wastewater systems in the budget, it offered little in the way of support for both.
Instead, the budget focuses on critical minerals and the government’s attempts to decrease the amount of time it takes to get projects underway from 15 years down to two — an effort that poses huge environmental risk and has angered First Nations who say consultation and consent is not optional.
Here’s how the environment file is stacking up after a busy week at Queen’s Park.
The Ford government continues to send strong signals it wants to move ahead with a massive, controversial pumped storage project in Meaford, Ont., proposed by pipeline giant TC Energy. The project would store large amounts of clean energy, but carries environmental and public safety risks as it moves water up and down the Niagara Escarpment from Georgian Bay, two sensitive ecological systems.
The government reiterated its January announcement that it was “advancing pre-development work” for the proposal that would draw about 7,000 swimming pools worth of water out of the bay, pump it to a reservoir atop the escarpment using excess electricity and then pour it back down through turbines to generate electricity when it’s needed.
The budget said it was being “developed in partnership by TC Energy and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation,” which represents the Chippewas of Nawash and Saugeen First Nations, which have nearby unceded territory.
Saugeen Ojibway Nation has expressed optimism about the project, but has also cautioned that it would like to carry out its own environmental assessment.
The government also promoted its plan to build Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, and expand other highways, including a much-criticized proposal to dig a tunnel under Highway 401.
The government is also permanently cutting the tax on gasoline and diesel and removing tolls on the provincially owned portion of Highway 407 East, it announced earlier this week.
The budget noted the Progressive Conservatives are amending provincial laws to prevent the City of Toronto from tolling roads, implementing a personal vehicle tax or putting in place congestion pricing. New York City implemented congestion pricing this January, and evidence shows the policy has been an overwhelming success — with traffic and commuting times down, while retail sales, restaurant reservations and transit ridership are all up.
Meanwhile, the Ford government did not promise any new money for transit projects, but it did reinstate its vow to rip out bike lanes on major streets in Toronto.
Bethlenfalvy told reporters the government has independent reports suggesting gridlock costs Ontario $56 million a year. The streets where bike lanes are being removed “all have subway lines,” he noted.
“I’m a bicyclist myself, you know, but I think we need to meet you safely on bicycles. We also need to meet trucks and cars safely in Toronto and elsewhere, and we’ve got to keep investing in infrastructure like subways. It’s not either/or.”
The province is putting an additional $92 million toward electric vehicle charging infrastructure, for a total of $180 million with existing funding.
Finally, the budget says the province will support “new pipelines connecting Alberta oil to new refineries.” It’s unclear what “new refineries” the government means, whether in Ontario, elsewhere in Canada or around the world.
Asked about this, Bethlenfalvy said, “You’ve got to go from Alberta, through Ontario to connect to new markets in Europe and beyond.”
He said there is broad support across leaders to work collectively to ensure things like pipelines are built: “You can’t take forever to make a single pipeline. You’ve got to move fast. One project, one approval.”
There are no current proposals being considered for a new oil or gas pipeline that would go through Ontario.
The budget speaks once again about “unlocking the Ring of Fire,” a northern Ontario critical minerals deposit that the government considers “one of Ontario’s greatest assets in the face of economic threats from the United States.”
It pledges $70 million over four years for an Indigenous Participation Fund, meant to support “Indigenous communities and organizations in areas of high mineral activity” to help them participate in mining development and “enable meaningful consultation.”
The government is also creating a $500-million Critical Minerals Processing Fund to help finance projects that will process the ore mined in Ontario.
But several proposed road projects needed to access the mineral deposits are still undergoing environmental and impact assessments, including a regional assessment that will look at cumulative impacts for the entire area.
This will include extensive consultations with dozens of impacted First Nations, including some that are proponents of road projects to the region.
The government has also been pushing through legislation under Bill 5 that would amass power in the hands of cabinet to speed up development in “special economic zones,” remove protections for endangered species and create a new office to help companies get authorizations quicker to build mines and homes alike.
The budget also comes the same week as the government tabled Bill 17, housing legislation that may limit municipalities’ ability to impose green building standards (they’ve tried this before and failed, so details pending), delaying efforts to reduce fossil fuel usage for heating and cooling.
Since the election of Prime Minister Mark Carney in April, Alberta and the federal government have been talking about a “grand bargain” to balance rapid...
Continue reading
Mining regulations and environmental assessments were developed to protect the environment and public health and...
Climate change and urban sprawl are blurring the lines between bear country and our front...
Last week, Queen’s Park passed bills to create special zones for industry and block green...
