State of Ontario’s climate policy is ‘frightening,’ watchdog says

TORONTO — Ontario’s environmental commissioner says the state of climate policy in the province is inadequate and frightening.

Dianne Saxe delivered her last report today, after the Progressive Conservative government eliminated the office, merging its functions with the auditor general.

Premier Doug Ford had promised that not a single job would be lost under his government, but Saxe says this move has meant 12 people are losing their jobs.

Saxe is critical of the government’s cancellation of a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gases, as well as the cancellation of electricity conservation programs and a growth plan that she says increases urban sprawl and therefore reliance on transportation fuels.

She says in the areas that could reduce climate pollution, Ontario is “causing great damage.”

Saxe says cost-effective conservation could cut Ontario’s energy use by up to 30 per cent.