{"id":4778,"date":"2018-09-20T12:30:57","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T16:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=4778"},"modified":"2021-12-06T06:33:16","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T11:33:16","slug":"it-shouldnt-take-a-lawsuit-to-make-doug-ford-listen-to-ontarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/4778\/it-shouldnt-take-a-lawsuit-to-make-doug-ford-listen-to-ontarians\/","title":{"rendered":"It Shouldn&#8217;t Take A Lawsuit To Make Doug Ford Listen To Ontarians"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"headline__subtitle\">Premier Ford can&#8217;t use the notwithstanding clause to get around the legal challenge brought by Greenpeace and Ecojustice<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Three hours after a judge granted an urgent hearing for<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/toronto\/greenpeace-suing-ontario-government-over-cancellation-of-cap-and-trade-program-1.4819250\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-rapid-elm=\"context_link\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link\" data-rapid-sec=\"{&quot;entry-text&quot;:&quot;entry-text&quot;}\" data-rapid_p=\"1\" data-v9y=\"1\">\u00a0Greenpeace&#8217;s lawsuit\u00a0<\/a>over the assault on the Ontario&#8217;s climate law, the Ford government blinked.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In a small but significant victory for democracy as something more than voting once every four years, the PC government posted their proposed climate legislation for public comment on the<a href=\"https:\/\/ero.ontario.ca\/notice\/013-3738\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-rapid-elm=\"context_link\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link\" data-rapid-sec=\"{&quot;entry-text&quot;:&quot;entry-text&quot;}\" data-rapid_p=\"2\" data-v9y=\"1\">\u00a0Environmental Bill of Rights registry<\/a>. Now Ontario residents can have a say about the province&#8217;s new climate plan, or lack thereof.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Ford didn\u2019t want to hear what you think about his anti-climate legislation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">But we have the right to be heard on decisions that affect the environment. Let\u2019s use that right. Have YOUR say &gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HnnBdDSknr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/HnnBdDSknr<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ActOnClimate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ActOnClimate<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/onpoli?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#onpoli<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FordNation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FordNation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OqMNnfZj0H\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/OqMNnfZj0H<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2014 Greenpeace Canada (@GreenpeaceCA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GreenpeaceCA\/status\/1042806998629318658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 20, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">To date, Premier Doug Ford has adopted a Trump-inspired shock and awe approach to government where he charges forward on multiple fronts to try to implement changes before anyone can read the fine print. This kind of policy-by-press-release may get them the headlines they want, but it makes for lousy laws.<\/p>\n<p>This is clearest in the use of the notwithstanding clause to overrule a court decision that found Ford was free to cut the size of Toronto&#8217;s city council, he just couldn&#8217;t do it in the middle of an election. He justified this extraordinary action \u2013 bypassing Canada&#8217;s Charter of Rights and Freedoms \u2013 on the grounds that he&#8217;s the boss and if you don&#8217;t like it, then vote him out next election day (although he had no such qualms about\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/canada\/ontario-outlines-arguments-in-lawsuit-against-federal-carbon-tax-plan-1.4094418\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-rapid-elm=\"context_link\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link\" data-rapid-sec=\"{&quot;entry-text&quot;:&quot;entry-text&quot;}\" data-rapid_p=\"9\" data-v9y=\"1\">asking the courts to overrule<\/a>\u00a0the carbon pricing policy of the duly-elected federal government).<\/p>\n<p><strong>A healthy democracy, on the other hand, welcomes citizen participation in decision-making every day, not just every four years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, our rights aren&#8217;t wholly reliant on the premier&#8217;s good will. Ford can&#8217;t use the notwithstanding clause to get around the legal challenge brought by Greenpeace and Ecojustice because it is based on the rights granted under the province&#8217;s own Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), not the Charter.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last 25 years, these rights have been respected by governments from all three parties. The EBR recognizes that while it&#8217;s primarily the Ontario government&#8217;s job to protect the natural environment, Ontarians have the right to participate in \u2013 and hold the government accountable for \u2013 decisions that significantly affect the environment.<\/p>\n<p>To quote<a href=\"https:\/\/eco.on.ca\/your-rights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-rapid-elm=\"context_link\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link\" data-rapid-sec=\"{&quot;entry-text&quot;:&quot;entry-text&quot;}\" data-rapid_p=\"11\" data-v9y=\"1\">\u00a0Gord Downie<\/a>, who personally used the protections in the EBR to defend the earth he loved:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;This is our air and our water, these things belong to us. Every licence to pollute, every environmental impact, must be considered carefully and publicly. These are our environmental rights, rights as important as any others, rights that must be respected.&#8221;<span class=\"attribution\">&#8211; Gord Downie<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>We launched our lawsuit to defend those rights as the Ford government tries to ram through its wholesale revision of Ontario&#8217;s laws for combating climate change.<\/strong> We argue that the Ford government unlawfully failed to provide for public consultation on both the regulation that ended Ontario&#8217;s cap-and-trade program and on Bill 4, the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018, that is currently before the legislature. The case also asks the Court to quash the regulation.<\/p>\n<p>So it was significant that the government, perhaps reading the writing on the wall and wanting to avoid another loss in court, put Bill 4 out for a 30-day consultation immediately after we were granted an early court date. The government has also promised the Court that they won&#8217;t pass Bill 4 before the public consultation process is complete.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4792 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/d8ead419-doug-ford-consultation-fb-ig-denied-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/d8ead419-doug-ford-consultation-fb-ig-denied-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/d8ead419-doug-ford-consultation-fb-ig-denied-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/d8ead419-doug-ford-consultation-fb-ig-denied-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/d8ead419-doug-ford-consultation-fb-ig-denied-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/d8ead419-doug-ford-consultation-fb-ig-denied-340x340.png 340w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/d8ead419-doug-ford-consultation-fb-ig-denied.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>This pause will allow for greater scrutiny of a bill that proposes to rip up the current legislative regime for addressing climate crisis without anything to replace it.<\/strong> Bill 4 eliminates the cap-and- trade system and thus the programs funded by this price on pollution that helped Ontario households and businesses be part of the low-carbon economy. Equally concerning, it also removes the legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets that tell businesses where our economy is going.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This year&#8217;s more intense wildfires, flash floods and hurricanes are sending a clear message: failing to act on climate change already has an enormous cost.<\/strong> Those costs are only going to go higher, so if the Ford government doesn&#8217;t want to use carbon pricing, then they need to tell Ontarians what they will do instead to address the climate crisis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>At a minimum, Ontario&#8217;s new climate plan should be consistent with meeting the goal set out in the Paris climate agreement of keeping warming well below 2 degrees Celsius.<\/strong> That will require building more efficient homes and offices that use less energy and thus cut energy costs. It means better public transit and switching to vehicles powered by renewable energy. These kinds of measures will create good, green jobs in the economy of the future.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/act.gp\/2xrwmv3\"><strong>It shouldn&#8217;t take a lawsuit to force a government to listen to people \u2013 including some who may not have voted for them \u2013 but now that we have this opportunity, let&#8217;s seize it.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.ca\/keith-stewart\/ontario-climate-action_a_23529922\/\">This post was originally published on Huffpost on 17 September 2018<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t<section\n\t\t\tclass=\"boxout post-4787 \"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-action=\"Image\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"cover-card-overlay\"\n\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/doug-ford-listen-to-the-people-not-the-polluters\/\" \n\t\t\t><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/e6be81be-doug-ford-1024x681.jpg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/e6be81be-doug-ford-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/e6be81be-doug-ford-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/e6be81be-doug-ford-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/e6be81be-doug-ford-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-canada-stateless\/2018\/09\/e6be81be-doug-ford.jpg 2042w\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(min-width: 1000px) 358px, (min-width: 780px) 313px, 88px\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\talt=\"\" title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n            \t\t\t<div class=\"boxout-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"boxout-heading medium\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-action=\"Title\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/doug-ford-listen-to-the-people-not-the-polluters\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDoug Ford: Listen to the People, not the Polluters!\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                                    <a\n                        class=\"btn btn-primary\"\n                        data-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n                        data-ga-action=\"Call to Action\"\n                        data-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n                        href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/doug-ford-listen-to-the-people-not-the-polluters\/\"\n                        \n                    >\n                        Take action\n                    <\/a>\n                \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Premier Ford can&#8217;t use the notwithstanding clause to get around the legal challenge brought by Greenpeace and Ecojustice Three hours after a judge granted an urgent hearing for\u00a0Greenpeace&#8217;s lawsuit\u00a0over the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":4779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[23],"p4-page-type":[16],"class_list":["post-4778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-nature","tag-climate","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4778"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51418,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions\/51418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=4778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}