Illustration by Philip Street

 

The Climate Crimes of

the Ford Government 

Birds fell from the sky during a recent heat wave in India. In 2022 year, floods destroyed four million acres of crops in Pakistan. The signs are clear here in Canada as well. British Columbia is ravaged by fire and flood. Record hurricanes rip apart the coasts of Newfoundland and PEI. Rapidly thawing northern permafrost that is generating unimaginable carbon dioxide and methane emissions, part of a terrifying carbon bomb.

At the start of the 2022, United Nations Climate Summit (COP27) UN Secretary General told world leaders to “co-operate or perish,” adding that the world is on a “highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”

The Central African Republic President pointed to an oft-repeated reality. Rich counties are to blame for climate breakdown. “Africa should not have to pay for crimes they have not committed.”

CLIMATE CRIME 1

Failure on All Fronts

CLIMATE CRIME 2

Carbon Pollution Failure

CLIMATE CRIME 3

More Vulnerability to Climate Hazards

CLIMATE CRIME 4

Electric Vehicle Scheme

CLIMATE CRIME 5

Electricity Price Breaks for Big Users

CLIMATE CRIME 6

Charter Rights Violation

CLIMATE CRIME 7

Promotion of New Coal

CLIMATE CRIME 8

Gas: Ontario’s New Coal

CLIMATE CRIME 9

Suffocation of Indigenous “Breathing Lands”

CLIMATE CRIME 10

Elimination of Environment Commissioner

CLIMATE CRIME 11

Attacks on Carbon Pricing

CLIMATE CRIME 12

Free Pass for Big Polluters

CLIMATE CRIME 13

Ending of Wetland Protection

CLIMATE CRIME 14

Replacement of Carbon Sink with Carbon Bomb

CLIMATE CRIME 15

Bill 276: Stopping Green Power

CLIMATE CRIME 16

Failure to Recognize Indigenous Rights

CLIMATE CRIME 17

Boost of Small Dirty Nuclear

CLIMATE CRIME 18

Boost of Big Dirty Nuclear

CLIMATE CRIME 19

Omnibus Bills that Erode Democracy and Promote Climate Breakdown

CLIMATE CRIME 20

The Hydrogen Hustle

CLIMATE CRIME 21

Developer-Friendly Moves

CLIMATE CRIME 22

Failure to Protect and Enhance Biodiversity

CLIMATE CRIME 23

Cancellation of Wind Power Contracts

CLIMATE CRIME 24

“No” to Better Public Transit

CLIMATE CRIME 25

Air Pollution Peril: Ignoring the Evidence

CLIMATE CRIME 26

Paving the Greenbelt

CLIMATE CRIME 27

Threatening Regenerative Agriculture

CLIMATE CRIME 28

Ministerial Zoning Orders: Heavy-Handed Tools to Help Government Friends

CLIMATE CRIME 29

Mixing Freshwater and Gas

CLIMATE CRIME 30

Dimming the Solar Power Lights

CLIMATE CRIME 31

Disdain and Denial: Climate Breakdown and Health

CLIMATE CRIME 32

Attack on Conservation Areas

CLIMATE CRIME 33

“No” to a Green Economy

CLIMATE CRIME 34

Bill 23: How the Government Grinch Stole Democracy and Aided Climate Breakdown

In 2022 SCAN! volunteers presented a comprehensive examination of what we call the Ontario government’s “climate crimes.”

We have avoided a deep dive into details of provincial climate policy. Rather, these are short summaries of the dangerous path down which the Progressive Conservative government is leading us. The crimes are as well-documented as they are alarming.

Please keep in mind that, originally published in the spring of 2022, these capsule summaries are a snapshot. A still photograph taken at a fixed point in time.  In most cases, we have updated the crimes to reflect subsequent policy changes as well as fresh evidence of the gravity of climate breakdown.

If we really are on a highway to climate hell, Doug Ford’s government has the pedal to the metal, spending billions by destroying life-supporting wetlands to build more commuter roads.

FORD’S CLIMATE CRIMES

Learn about the 34 Climate Crimes committed by the Ford Government

TEN CLIMATE REASONS

Learn about the Ten Climate Reasons to Challenge the Ford Government

FORD WATCH

The government’s climate crimes have not stopped. 

For timely and thought-provoking updates …