ECO calls out financial cost of Ford’s all-in fossil fuel strategy

March 27, 2019

TORONTO — Mike Schreiner released the following statement after the release of the ECO report on energy conservation:

“Premier Ford’s campaign to sabotage climate solutions contributes to the loss of $16 to $24 billion from Ontario’s economy.

Conservation and fuel switching can keep money in Ontario while creating jobs and prosperity, but instead Ford is doubling down on fossil fuels, shipping money abroad and abandoning energy conservation incentives.

The commissioner exposed the true costs of Ford’s decision to abandon efficiency efforts, which will lead to 2MT in additional carbon pollution, undoing more than half of the pollution benefits touted by the government from its conversion to natural gas.

On transportation, the largest source of Ontario’s emissions, the government is going backwards with a disastrous sprawl plan that could consume 1,000 sq km of primarily agricultural land by 2031.

The Premier’s low-density, sprawl-first land use planning will drive up pollution and gridlock, while threatening Ontario’s prime farmland and food security.

The Ford government is doing real damage to our economy, environment and health by sabotaging solutions to reduce fossil fuel use.

I want to thank Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner for exposing the combined costs of Ford’s anti-environment agenda and the damage it will do our children and grandchildren.

She and her predecessors have been a voice for science in the face of a government that puts ideology over evidence.”

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