May 26th, 2020
To: Doug Ford, Premier of the Province of Ontario
Cc: Members of Provincial Parliament
Re: Recommendations to Build a More Resilient Post-COVID-19 Ontario
Dear Premier Ford:
This letter provides six recommendations from the Climate Caucus highlighting the significant opportunities to align our COVID-19 economic recovery plan with provincial strategic directions, and our climate mitigation and resiliency efforts.
This letter is endorsed by the Ontario Climate Caucus members whose signatures appear at the end of this letter. The Climate Caucus is a non-partisan network of more than 50 Ontario Mayors and Councillors working collaboratively alongside 200 additional Mayors and Councillors across Canada to build equitable, regenerative, and resilient communities.
We recognize and appreciate the difficult and essential work that you are doing to sustain individuals, communities, and businesses through the immediate COVID-19 crisis which has demonstrated our vulnerability to disruptions. It is recommended that infrastructure investments associated with economic recovery will make Ontario more resilient to a broad range of vulnerabilities, including climate change (flooding, heatwaves, ice storms), pandemics, population growth, and technological challenges (blackouts).
We would like to thank you for your thoughtful and transparent COVID-19 response that has been evidence and science-based and applied across government and society. The advancements made at the provincial level will have a direct influence on the decisions made at the local and federal level. We need to ensure that the decisions and investments made into the future are also based in science and evidence, and advance us towards more equitable, low carbon, and economically competitive communities.
The following are our six recommendations:
1. Work with the federal government and Ontario municipalities to create jobs by advancing building retrofit programs.
Employment opportunities are critical to our economic recovery. We need to retrofit millions of existing homes and buildings, and construct thousands of affordable, climate-resilient homes. Retrofitting our existing building stock to be more energy efficient and resilient to extreme weather events will reduce our vulnerability to energy and carbon price increases over time; reduce flooding risk and damage from extreme weather; and create thousands of high-paying local jobs that cannot be outsourced. To ensure all new buildings are efficient and resilient, Ontario should align the Ontario Building Code towards a net zero standard (consistent with the National Building Code) which will ensure that Ontario's new buildings consider lifecycle costs rather than just focusing on upfront costs.
2. Support municipalities in their efforts to restore and protect natural ecosystems.
Restored ecosystems will provide a wide variety of ecological goods and services for free, such as clean air, clean water, long-term carbon storage, flood protection, and habitat protection. These services are all required to ensure the health of Ontarians and combat climate change. Restoration activities and green infrastructure projects result in good quality local jobs, reduce our vulnerability to extreme weather events, and help to increase the longevity of our grey infrastructure investments.
3. Invest in public transit.
Our public transit systems, in both rural and urban communities, require direct funding from federal and provincial governments to remain functional during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public transit costs and lost revenues have had a significant negative impact on municipal budgets. Public transit, however, is critical to ensuring that traffic congestion doesn't worsen post COVID-19 as people try to reduce their exposure. Public transit is the only transportation option for many people on fixed incomes, youth, seniors, and people with disabilities. Long-term, stable funding in decarbonized public transit will create good jobs, address congestion, improve health and well-being, support equity, and help Ontario achieve our climate goals.
4. Invest in cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.
Safe, universally accessible infrastructure for active transportation provides inexpensive, equitable mobility, supports public health by allowing physical distancing, and enlivens a community. Our COVID-19 recovery presents an opportunity for Ontarians to increase their use of active transportation as a transportation choice resulting in significant health benefits and cost reductions. This will only occur, however, if people are provided with a safe place to practice active transportation. Ontario needs to keep pace with the active transportation investments being made in communities around the world as a result of their COVID-19 response and recovery.
5. Invest in building Ontario's future energy system.
Increasing opportunities to meet energy needs through distributed energy resources is a dependable path to a cleaner and healthier future. It creates well-paid local jobs and is increasingly the cheapest way to generate electricity. An interprovincial grid would also pair the outstanding hydro resources in Quebec with Ontario's electrical grid. Access to low-carbon electricity would support the health of Ontarians as well as enable electrification of personal and freight transport. This includes building infrastructure for EVs and enacting the supportive local policies, including EV incentives and requiring dealers to make EVs available on their lots. The government should lead the way by replacing government fleets with EVs as existing fleets age.
6. Invest in Ontario's food economy and security.
The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that relying on long supply chains makes us vulnerable. Food insecurity will only increase as the climate changes. Climate Caucus members support a provincial food security network. This would require cross-sectoral collaboration between municipalities, provincial and federal ministries, local farmers, Indigenous communities, nonprofits, and industry to preserve and expand Ontario's local food supply.
In Conclusion
The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that governments must intervene decisively once the scale of the emergency is clear. The climate emergency is like the COVID-19 emergency, just in slow motion. Both involve market failures, externalities, international cooperation, complex science, questions of system resilience, and political leadership.
Mr. Premier, local governments are on the front lines of both the pandemic and the climate crisis. We are also your essential partners in serving Ontarians today, tomorrow, and for decades to come. We ask that every decision you make for Ontarians is designed to increase our resilience to future shocks and reduce climate pollution, restore natural systems, and help us to help you ease the transition to a resilient, low-carbon economy.
This moment, Mr. Premier, is your moment to act decisively and to embrace a bold plan that confronts these interconnected crises. As your partner at the level of government closest to the people, we pledge our commitment to work with you. Together, we can rebuild our communities to support the sustainable, equitable future Ontario deserves -- a future that we know is possible.
Sincerely,
The undersigned Ontario members of the Climate Caucus
C.c. MPPs of Government of Ontario
Municipal Elected Officials Endorsements
David West, Councillor, City of Richmond Hill
Jane Fogal, Local and Regional Councillor, Town of Halton Hills and Halton Region
Robert Kiley, Councillor, City of Kingston
Debbie Schaefer, Councillor, Township of King
Doug Whillans, Councillor, City of Brampton
Tenille Bonoguore, Councillor, City of Waterloo
Leanne Caron Piper, Councillor, City of Guelph
Debbie Chapman, Councillor, City of Kitchener
Scott Davey, Councillor, City of Kitchener
Elizabeth Peloza, Councillor, City of London
Cheryl Antoski, Councillor, City of Brantford
Margaret Zwart, Councillor, Municipality of Clarington
Karen Cilevitz, Councillor, City of Richmond Hill
Derek Giberson, Councillor, City of Oshawa
Godwin Chan, Councillor, City of Richmond Hill
Steve Clarke, Mayor, City of Orillia
Al Sizer, Councillor, City of Greater Sudbury
Reid McAlpine, Councillor, City of Markham
Tom Galloway, Councillor, Region of Waterloo
Jeff Bowman, Councillor, City of Brampton
Clark Somerville, Regional and Local Councillor, Town of Halton Hills and Halton Region
Jennifer McKelvie, Councillor, City of Toronto
Phil Allt, Councillor, City of Guelph
Berry Vrbanovic, Mayor, City of Kitchener
Paul Sharman, Councillor, City of Burlington
Carilyne Hébert, Councillor, City of Cornwall
Additional Non-Elected Endorsers
Dr. Deborah de Lange, Faculty, Ryerson University
Gabriella Kalapos, Executive Director, Clean Air Partnership
Julia Langer, CEO, The Atmospheric Fund
Mary Jane Patterson, Executive Director, Reep Green Solutions
Sue Arndt and Dorothy McCabe, ClimateActionWR