NewmarketToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication).
Doug Ford said he called an election because he needs a stronger mandate from the Ontario people to counter U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian products. This is while all the opposition party leaders had said they would stand behind his plan without having another election. At the cost of $150 million, he called an election to try to increase his base and ensure another four years in power.
One thing Ford has avoided doing during the last seven years is develop any plan to reduce the risks of climate change. When he was first elected, he got rid of cap and trade with California costing $300 million and stopped all development of green energy. He also cost businesses that were in the process of building wind power $1 million.
At that time, Ontario was well on the way to meeting the Paris Accord agreement, but left Ontario with no plan, resulting in the federal government requiring Ontario to collect carbon tax. Then Ford took the federal government to court on two occasions, costing $30 million and losing both times.
Since then there has been no plan for climate change except to build a nuclear power station in Pickering, which will cost a huge amount of money and not be functional for many years to come. In the meantime, he plans to have natural gas plants that will get energy for Ontario but put significant carbon emissions into the atmosphere and increase global warming.
His plan to build Highway 413 will lead to an environmental disaster with loss of habitat for endangered plants, animals and birds and also destroy farmland and harm waterways that can lead to flooding of the areas.
And he still doesn’t have any immediate green plans to fight climate change. When the election happens the end of February, is this the guy you want to be the premier of Ontario?
Lenore Pressley
Aurora
