Has buying beer and wine at the corner store changed lives in Ontario?  Probably not.

While some increased convenience for busy families is nice, Ontario government leaders need to start grappling with some much bigger issues —now that they have finally returned to work at Queen’s Park after a long summer break — tackling issues like access to affordable homes, help with still-rising food costs and lowering utility bills.  

And then, there is that whole climate change thing that looms over our communities like a rapidly growing black cloud.

It's certainly easier to mail $200 cheques to all Ontarians and extend gas tax cuts that end up encouraging more traffic — the centerpiece initiative of the recent provincial mini-budget — than to grapple with the massive problems facing Ontario families. 

But sensible policies can lead to meaningful improvements on all of these issues.  We’ve gathered ideas from environmental leaders on how the province should be tackling the issues that really matter.

Take housing, for example.  Building million-dollar-plus homes in far-flung subdivisions while filling our cities with shoebox condos has done little to improve access to livable, affordable housing.  We need to pivot — fast — to housing types that meet people’s needs.  

Prioritizing fourplexes and other infill housing in already developed areas is a much more efficient strategy to get housing built quickly, than opening up valuable agricultural land to increased urban sprawl. And the need to build multi-billion-dollar highways can also then be parked in favour of investing in smart transit projects that can move many more people efficiently. 

This strategy also prevents the further destruction of valuable local food sources that are only going to grow in importance as climate conditions shift and massive hurricanes pound the sources of imported foodstuffs.

Of course, just about everyone would like a break on their energy costs, which is why it is so head-scratching that Ontario is doing little to tap into what are now our lowest-cost sources of power: solar and wind.  The revolution in energy storage technologies (including massive cost drops for batteries) has made the green power option simply the best way to keep our lights on. 

But there is a much bigger deal here and that is how Ontario is going to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Our competitors are not ignoring the potential of solar and wind to deliver low-cost power.  China is eating the world’s lunch when it comes to ramping up these sources of ultra-competitive power, but the U.S., thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, is now racing to catch up.  Europe will benefit massively from offshore wind as the technology continues to improve, while Ontario ignores the potential to do the same in the Great Lakes.

Similarly, world-leading cities that put livability first and cars second are going to have a major leg up in attracting a highly competitive workforce. Our competitors have figured out that antiquated solutions like adding more road capacity simply lead to more congestion. They are all-in on walkable, bikeable, complete communities served by reliable, convenient transit.  The choice becomes crystal clear after a single commute to almost anywhere in southern Ontario.

The side benefit of building a province that is ready to run with such leaders is that we also lower our vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.  First, instead of increasing climate-damaging emissions from our electricity system by burning more fossil fuels, we lower them dramatically while lowering costs by shifting rapidly to renewables.  If we simultaneously build communities that are better prepared for extreme heat, flooding and fire, we also build healthier places to live.

Protecting more of our wetlands, forests and other natural areas across the province maintains carbon storehouses and reduces the impacts of flooding, while providing safe havens for plants and animals. Old growth and primary forests must be protected and not sacrificed to industrial logging, mining, or other resource extractive industries, while development decisions require the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous communities. 

People in Ontario are smart and understand the connection between a healthy environment and a good quality of life. What they sometimes overlook is the connection between a healthy environment and being able to compete in today’s world.  Our planet is being rapidly reshaped by the interlinked biodiversity and climate crises. Places that have decided to respond to these threats are already reaping the benefits of their actions with booming job growth, more livable communities and safer neighbourhoods. 

Ontario is slipping further and further behind. We need to catch up fast.

Tim Gray is Executive Director of Environmental Defence Canada.

Tony Morris is Conservation Policy and Campaigns Director for Ontario Nature.