Smoke from wildfires in the provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia hangs over Toronto on June 28.Ian Willms
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is being accused of burying a worrying report about the effects of climate change, which outlines in stark detail the risks of extreme weather events on all aspects of life, from food production to the economy.
The report, called the Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment, predicts extreme heat and precipitation and other factors such as wildfires and droughts will have the biggest repercussions on climate in the future. It says Ontario has the institutional and financial capacity to do more to fight climate change, but it has “not yet been mobilized widely despite the imperative.”
“Ontario has already been affected by climate change as evidenced by recent events such as flooding, heat waves, and unusually high climate variability or extremes. The impacts of climate change have the potential to affect built and natural systems through water shortages, forest fires, power outages, outbreaks of diseases, and more,” the report said.
“These changes in climate translate into risks to economic sectors, ecosystems, communities, and people.”
The report was commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks in 2020 and delivered to the government in January by a project team led by the Climate Risk Institute, a non-profit academically affiliated organization. However, the report, which clocks in at 505 pages, was only posted online in late August, without a media advisory or public announcement. Environment Minister David Piccini told a legislative committee in May that the government was still reviewing the report, which he described as “substantial.”
NDP MPP Peter Tabuns, the party’s critic for energy and climate action, said Mr. Ford’s government “completely buried” the report for eight months as it continued with its plan to carve out sections of the protected Greenbelt land that arcs around the Greater Toronto Area for housing development.
“The report is damning, and the government’s lack of response is even more so,” Mr. Tabuns told reporters on Wednesday.
“It’s clear that Ford’s Conservatives have no serious climate adaptation strategy. Instead, they’re actively pursuing policies that will put us at even greater risk.”
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Daniel Strauss, a spokesperson for Mr. Piccini, defended the government’s environmental record and said the province has a “robust capacity” to adapt to the impact of climate change.
“Ontario will continue to work with all our partners, including Indigenous communities, municipalities and businesses, to best incorporate the report’s findings and identify further ways to prepare Ontario for the effects of climate change,” Mr. Strauss said in a statement.
Even the study’s co-author, Al Douglas, said he was unaware the report had been released until recently. The study provides a “very comprehensive assessment” of the risk levels of climate change, he said, including extreme weather events such as the wildfires that burned in a number of provinces this summer while residual smoke wafted into Ontario.
“There isn’t a part of the province that is immune to these challenges,” Mr. Douglas, president of the Sudbury, Ont.-based Climate Risk Institute, said in an interview.
“What was surprising to me is that there is almost very strong consensus about the current levels of risk. We are experiencing this stuff right now. … So it’s worrisome to think that this is going to continue to build over the next 20 to 30 years.”
Although he said he was surprised the government didn’t publicize the release of the report, he is pleased it is now receiving public attention. He said he hopes similar assessments can be completed every three to five years.
The report predicts the number of extreme hot days, where air temperatures exceed 30, are “expected to rise significantly across Ontario,” particularly in southwest, central and eastern Ontario, to an average of 60 days a year by the 2080s.
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It also says that climate change is expected to increase risks across the agriculture sector by directly affecting field crop, fruit, vegetable and livestock production, and could result in disruptions and food shortages in the province.
While the report doesn’t propose concrete solutions, it says that a formal provincial adaptation plan “would co-ordinate action among various levels of implementation, prioritize investment in high-risk areas and enable an understanding of changing climate risks.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner also accused the government of trying to keep the report “from seeing the light of day.” He said it paints a “grim picture” of Ontario’s climate future and serves as a stark reminder that the province needs drastic climate action immediately.
“But Doug Ford is headed in the opposite direction, ramping up costly fossil gas plants, gutting conservation authorities and paving over our farmlands, wetlands and the Greenbelt,” he said in a statement.