QUEEN’S PARK — Today, Mike Schreiner, tabled his Private Member’s Bill, the Carbon Budget Accountability Act.
The proposed Bill would set a Fair Share Carbon Budget that reduces Ontario’s climate pollution in half by 2030 and to net-zero every year from 2045.
If passed, this bill would set the first-ever carbon budget anywhere in Canada.
“On the eve of global climate negotiations, Canada’s largest province needs to show leadership, accountability and commitment to climate action,” Schreiner said.
But despite the pressing threat of the climate emergency, Ontario is lagging on climate action.
“Climate pollution is rising after the Premier ripped out EV chargers, scrapped renewable energy contracts, and fast tracked developments that destroy farmlands and wetlands. We need to change course.”
The Carbon Budget would limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that Ontario can emit to 1,630 megatonnes from 2023 onward.
“Climate action can’t wait. We can’t negotiate with physics.”
Experts like the International Panel on Climate Change are clear that the world must rapidly and drastically reduce climate pollution to avoid climate disaster.
“We need to act now. And this legislation is a crucial step in holding governments accountable. If the government and the other opposition parties want to prove their talk on climate is more than hot air, they’ll vote in support of this bill.”
Schreiner will debate the bill in the House on Thursday evening.