Following an update on the Beyond Gas Campaign, a collaborative initiative of several OCEC signatories, we are pleased to present a guest editorial from Max Hansgen, President, National Farmers Union-Ontario about how farmers and farm organizations are speaking up to protect Ontario’s farmland and Ontario’s food security. We have also covered some activities relating to the Toronto Mayoral Climate Campaign. The next sections provide news on Signatory Actions, suggestions of Key Resources, a list of Upcoming Events and we wrap with some Good News.

Beyond Gas Campaign

In the midst of a climate emergency that is imminently threatening our future, the Government of Ontario has announced a massive expansion of methane gas-fired electricity. The damaging fallout from this decision on the economy, human health and environmental health, jobs and more will be staggering. The Beyond Gas Campaign invites every Ontarian, including municipal councillors and MPPs, to learn more and take action on this critically important issue.
Check out our new and updated Beyond Gas Campaign materials.
Sign Up for the Beyond Gas Advocacy Campaign!
Call, write or best of all, arrange a meeting with your elected officials to voice your opposition for gas expansion and support for renewable energy solutions!"

Toronto City Council Votes to Oppose New Power Generation Proposals

On May 10 the motion, MM6.3 - A Clean Energy Future for Toronto, proposed by Councillors Paula Fletcher and Gordon Perks, was adopted.  It recommended that: 

• City Council oppose any new power generation proposal involving increased burning of fossil fuels, including natural gas, in our City. 
• City Council request the Province to immediately invest in programs to deliver energy efficiency, demand management and conservation to meet the capacity and energy needs that would have been fulfilled by expansion of electricity production through burning of fossil fuels. 
• City Council forward this item to the Independent Electricity Operator for information. 

Despite Energy Minister Todd Smith’s clear direction that municipal approval is required for new gas-fired generation projects, the IESO has approved plans to expand the Goreway (Brampton), Halton Hills (Halton) and Portlands (Toronto) gas plants without municipal council approval. 

Toronto City Council just passed a motion opposing any increase in gas-fired generation in the city.

The IESO has chosen the most polluting and climate damaging approach to meeting our energy needs despite having many better options. It has been obvious for quite some time that the IESO is determined to stick with an expensive gas/nuclear system rather than joining the rest of the world in aggressively pursuing energy efficiency, and renewable energy sources such as  wind, water and solar. OCAA asks that you send two letters to oppose gas expansions:

Please send a letter to Premier Ford, Energy Minister Todd Smith and your MPP to tell them that you don’t support their dangerous plans to build new gas plants and ramp up greenhouse gas pollution by 700% by 2043.

Toronto residents, please send a letter to Julie Dabrusin (M.P., Toronto-Danforth and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change), Steven Guilbeault (MP, Environment Minister) and your MP opposing the IESO’s decision to expand the capacity of the Portlands gas plant, which was announced just four days after Toronto City Council passed a motion opposing any new or expanded fossil gas power generation in the city.

Democracy is once again being undermined by the Ford government and IESO who are  ignoring the directive from the Minister of Energy that consent of the municipalities must be obtained.

Thirty-four Ontario municipalities have passed motions opposing the expansion of gas-fired electricity in the province, including Toronto, Halton Hills, Brampton, and Windsor, where the IESO has offered contracts for additional generation.

The Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) has this response to the IESO’s natural gas expansion announcement and what municipalities can do now.

Here’s a Globe and Mail overview of just how high the clean energy stakes in Canada are in this battle between Ford’s gas plant expansion policy in Ontario and the federal government’s commitment to Canada’s electricity system being 100% fossil free by 2035. Updated Clean Energy Standards are due from the federal government in the next month or so. Stay tuned.

Attention OCEC Members:

BEYOND GAS CAMPAIGN - HELP NEEDED
Do you live or work in the Brampton, Sarnia, Halton Hills, Toronto East, St. Clair Township, Newmarket, Ottawa, Windsor, Greater Napanee or Cardinal areas? Every person will be valuable, but especially if you live in those municipalities being targeted for gas plant expansions. Help is needed to build local public opposition. These City Councils and corresponding MPPs should be approached by their own constituents to be most impactful. Please contact  ocec.info1@gmail.com if you can help. Let’s put the brakes on gas!

Once again, farmland is under attack in Ontario. The Ford government announced another round of legislative changes that prioritize irresponsible growth and development just before the Easter long weekend. 

The changes are proposed in Bill 97 (the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act) and in a new Proposed Provincial Planning Statement. Much like Bill 23 & the Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan in November, these new changes will line the pockets of developers and land speculators at the expense of all Ontarians. 

If these new changes are passed into law, it would allow farm lots to be subdivided up to three times and lead to significant fragmentation of Ontario’s already scarce remaining agricultural land base. Currently in Ontario most municipalities with an approved official plan have specific policies and requirements for land severances because the indiscriminate division of land without planning review and approval can have a long-term, negative impact on the community. By abandoning the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and the current Provincial Policy Statement (2020) and weakening regional planning, these changes will undermine essential policies designed to reduce urban sprawl and protect natural heritage and agricultural lands. 

Bill 97 permits up to two additional dwellings in prime agricultural areas. Allowing three dwellings on each of the approximate 170,000 farmland properties in Ontario could result in as many as 1.5 million dwellings on newly severed lots in agricultural areas. Residential lot creation in agricultural areas has detrimental impacts for agriculture that are well demonstrated beyond just the fragmentation of the agricultural land base. It will also lead to increased conflicts between neighbouring land users, increased costs to municipalities, and drive speculative investment, resulting in farmland values that make farming even more unattainable for the next generation. 

In 2022, farm property values in Ontario increased by 19.4%, making it financially impossible for many new & young farmers to buy land. Allowing lot severances will only drive up this already inaccessible cost. The proposed severance policies will incentivize developers, who can outbid young farmers, to purchase & build on this newly available prime farmland. If this severance policy is allowed to pass, the future of Ontario’s local food economy will be jeopardised more than it is already. 

Ontario’s prime agricultural land is a finite, non-renewable resource that comprises less than 5% of Ontario’s land base. We are already losing 319 acres of farmland per day. We can not allow this to happen. 

The National Farmers Union – Ontario (NFU-O), Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO), along with numerous commodity and agricultural organizations, are united in their opposition to Bill 97 and the Proposed Provincial Planning Statement. 

The provincial government wants to hear from individual farmers. This past weekend we launched a campaign urging farmers to speak up against these short-sighted legislative proposals.

Together, we are urging farmers to tell Minister Clark that they oppose Bill 97 and the proposed Provincial Planning Statement, and that the government should abandon its proposal to allow for the severing of farmland parcels, in recognition of the current and future value of agriculture to the province’s economy, to our long-term food security, and long-term vibrant rural communities. Tell Minister Clark that We Will Not Be Divided. 

Ontario boasts some of Canada’s richest and most fertile farmland and these policy changes put the sustainability of that land and our local and long-term food security at risk. 

Farmers in Ontario are proud to farm with some of the best soil and growing conditions in North America. All we ask is that the land still be here to produce agricultural products for a growing nation, to continue to protect the land and waterways, and for our children and grandchildren to have the choice to farm and to invest in their businesses. 

Max Hansgen, President, National Farmers Union - Ontario

Related Resources and Action

Read the Joint Statement from Ontario’s Farm Leaders on Bill 97 and Proposed Provincial Planning Statement.

These changes to the PPS would:

• Eliminate mandatory intensification and greenfield density targets that were designed to rein in urban sprawl; 
• Allow municipalities to expand settlement areas at any time without a comprehensive review of associated infrastructure needs or potential impacts on farmland and natural areas; 
• Force municipalities to allow three lots to be severed from every farm, even in prime agricultural areas; 
• Exempt lands that are the subject of Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs) from complying with provincial policies and official plans; 
• Remove the requirement for municipalities to undertake watershed planning; and 
  Weaken and eliminate policies that address climate change.”
  

Deadline for submission of the email within the Comment period is June 5th, 2023.

Ontario Farmland Trust has also created some excellent tools to help people speak up, including templates for letters to the provincial government, examples of submissions to the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) and easy tools to help send your message.

Toronto Mayoral Climate Campaign

On June 26 Toronto residents will have the opportunity to elect a mayor that is committed to taking immediate and meaningful action to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Demonstrations

Letters and Petitions

Renewable Power for All: At the rally in Ottawa on Monday June 5 (see above), the organizers will deliver the names of tens of thousands of people across the country who support ambitious policy that eliminates emissions from our electricity grid in ways that bring affordability, resiliency and other community benefits. Petitions will be delivered from the David Suzuki Foundation, CAPE, Ecology Action Centre, Conservation Council of New Brunswick, 350.org, Leadnow, Environmental Defence, and Council of Canadians. Our goal is to collectively reach 50k signatures. Sign and share one or more of the petitions from the organizations linked above or launch your own. (Missing links means the organization will launch their action soon).

Videos and Recordings

Articles and Newsletters

Yoder, Kate (staff writer), Grist. May 16, 2023. Study: A third of the West’s burned forests can be traced to fossil fuel companies. Researchers from the Union of Concerned Scientists and the University of California found that 37 percent of forest burned across the western United States and southwestern Canada since 1986 can be linked to carbon pollution from 88 of the world’s largest oil, gas, and coal companies."

Roy, Mili and Robb Barnes. No space in Canada’s energy policy for methane gas. The Hill Times. May 17, 2023. This op-ed was co-written by OCEC Co-Chair Dr. Mili Roy. The Hill Times is widely read by legislators in Parliament. 

Many thanks to everyone that contributed to this issue of OCEC Connections.

Do you have any resources, upcoming events or actions you want to share? Send them to OCECnews@gmail.com.