Why does the Ford Government not care about the people of this city?
Last week, in the wake of Thorold City Council’s unanimous decision to reject the building of a new gas plant in their community, Energy Minister Todd Smith quickly accepted the decision and said no new gas plant will be coming to Thorold.
But Toronto is a different story. Toronto City Council has twice said “no“ to increased gas burning and the expansion of the Portlands gas plant on the city’s waterfront. But Mr. Smith isn’t listening.
Let’s be clear – when it comes to the climate and local air quality impacts, there is no difference between burning more gas by building a new gas plant and burning more gas in an existing gas plant. Yet the Minister thinks ramping up the use of existing plants and expanding them doesn’t need community support. Why the double standard?
Since Doug Ford became Premier, the Portlands’ greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution has increased by 550%. In 2022, it produced as much GHG pollution as 133,000 cars. Still, Portlands only ran at about 30% of its capacity in 2022, so there is lots of room to continue to ramp up gas burning – and pollution – at the plant. And now its owner, Ontario Power Generation, wants to expand Portlands by another 50 megawatts. But Toronto doesn’t want to go in this wrong direction, nor should it be forced to.
The Ford Government needs to drop the phony distinction between burning more gas in new plants and burning more gas in existing plants. Both have huge impacts on local communities and both should require community support. It is time for Minister Smith to listen to Toronto City Council and the people of the province’s largest city just like he listened to Thorold City Council.
Please send the Minister a message telling him to stop treating Toronto’s air as a place to dump pollution. It is time to respect Toronto City Council’s decision.