There was one vital topic missing from Monday’s debate between Ford, Wynne and Horvath: climate change.
Our world is changing rapidly, with weird weather patterns, natural disasters, and intense, localized storms like we’ve never seen – and we, in Perth and Wellington Counties, have recently experienced a taste of its ferocity by way of April’s ice storm and last week’s wind storm. Currently, the North Pole is 20 degrees Celsius above what it should be, and New Brunswick is under water.
Climate change is here, right now. It’s already costing us money, and it will affect our rural communities the most.
We have two choices: we can dig in our heels and insist that things stay the same as they always have and watch the floodgates open, so to speak. Or, we can get ahead of it, we can adapt. We can support renewable energy infrastructure while creating jobs, we can apply a climate-lens to all planning decisions, environmental assessments and planning laws, we can provide incentives for pollinator-friendly farming practices, and more. Ontario can lead the way into the future that all of us are facing, and we can do it without sacrificing our economy.
Unfortunately, the participants in Monday’s debate chose the first option.
Lisa Olsen
Green Party candidate for Perth Wellington
Lisa Olsen