Ontario Digs Heels in on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Posted on June 16th, 2009 by admin
The Ontario government has refused to participate in a national plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, which has been agreed to by Ottawa and all the other provinces and territories.
At this week’s meeting of environment and energy ministers, Ontario pushed for national standards based on its own air-quality programs, which it claims are the strongest in the country. But none of the other provinces wanted federal standards.
The new national strategy, which was in the works months prior to the meeting without Ontario’s participation, sets broad objectives but leaves details to the provinces. Priorities include measures to promote fuel efficiency, fuel-cell technology, transit and possible underground storage of carbon dioxide, the most important
greenhouse gas.
Ontario demanded the other provinces adopt auto emission testing programs and capture methane from landfill sites. Those programs reduce Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions by 1.1 million tonnes, a fraction of the 160 million tonnes produced annually.
Ontario refused to take part in the press conference that closed the meeting. However, Environment Minister Dan Newman and Energy Minister Jim Wilson met with reporters later to repeat that the province is the leaders in climate change initiatives.
Clearly not everyone in the province agrees. At one point during the press conference, John Bennett of the Sierra Club stormed to the podium and shouted in a trembling voice, "You’re not a leader. You are standing up here and you are lying to these people. I've been working on climate change in Ontario for 11 years, and you’ve cut back on every program that existed when you came into office."
Filed under: Cool views