For me, Dianne Saxe seemed like a shamaal, that strong wind that blows across the Arabian desert that shakes everything.
For sure all the dismal facts she reported about our climate crisis begs for a rudder to bring it all under control.
Unfortunately, our current provincial government wants to be nothing like the calming, guiding rudder we need. Its choice is to swipe away what progress Ontario has made on the climate file. And instead of building on that success, our success, it compounds one error with another by their unnecessary, and, may I say, damaging contest of wills with the federal government over the carbon tax.
A carbon tax, in combination with other tools, has been found over and over again, in computer models and in real life, to be the most effective and efficient means of lowering greenhouse gases. It simply works.
Dianne Saxe certainly underscored that Northern Ontario needs what works.
For sure, it is smart to keep channels of communication open with the Ford government, but that does not mean that its backwards looking, harmful choices will be met with favour at the next polls.
Carole Lavallée
Chelmsford