Milton NDP Blog

Lately we’ve been seeing ads from the Canadian and Ontario governments for SMRs - Small Modular Reactors. They claim that SMRs will play a role in achieving our 2050 greenhouse gas emission targets. What they do not say is that these types of reactors are pipe dreams. No SMR design has made it past phase one approval in a process that takes years and many phases. Some theoretical SMR types use radioactive water under pressure or molten sodium! We can’t even keep water treatment plants going in northern communities! We can’t seem to build housing for those in need! We read about hackers getting into government computers all the time! Are you ready to have radioactive water or molten sodium in your community? So why are governments talking nuclear - again? Well it’s not so much the politicians as it is their big business buddies that see dollar signs in this solution. Several corporations have already received support - read money, from the Canadian Nuclear Research Initiative . Politi...

Last week Premier Ford stated that an increase in federal carbon pricing will be “the worst thing you could ever see” without offering a shred of evidence. We noted that the PCs defeated an NDP private member’s bill that would require the Minister of Health to prepare Ontario’s health system for health risks caused by climate change. The bill would have also established a strategic action plan, a Climate Crisis and Health Secretariat, and a Science Advisory Board. It seems that every turn, the Ontario PC government denies science and stands in the way of reducing our carbon emissions. Ontario has, in fact, seen an increase in carbon emissions since the PCs took over. From silly gas pump stickers to a lack of incentives to switch to electric powered vehicles it would seem that this government is in denial. Andrea Horwath and the Ontario NDP are committed to reducing Ontario’s GHG emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. These targets...

Our Greenbelt is in jeopardy from Ford’s PCs. Six members of Ontario’s Greenbelt Council have resigned in reaction to Bill 229 that will strip power from local conservation authorities and expand ministerial authority on zoning and other potentially sensitive environmental issues. This action is actually hidden in Schedule 6 of the wider Bill 229, an Omnibus Covid19 recovery bill. Who is this government working for? Are they here for hard working Miltonians that get some reward from living where green spaces add some sunshine to a hard days’ slog? Or are they working for fat cat developers that want nothing more than to get their hands on some of that beautiful escarpment land? Aren’t we tired of governments that put economic development above quality of life? The Green New Democratic Deal is a central part of the Ontario NDP’s platform. The Ontario NDP remains committed to an update of the Environmental Bill of Rights and developing a provincial water strategy. We need to manage thi...

This weekend the Globe and Mail reported that several provincial governments want more time to examine the legislation that would apply the principles of UNDRIP (the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples). With this bill in place UNDRIP principles would interpret existing laws while helping to shape any future law making. The legislation is built on NDP MP Romeo Sagansh’s private members bill that passed third reading then died when the 2019 election was called. The list of detractors, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta etc. reads like a list of Conservative Provincial governments in Canada. They want more time for discussions with their “ industry stakeholders and Indigenous communities.” Notice how they put “industry stakeholders” before “Indigenous Peoples”? Of course PC governments want more time to figure out how to prevent a bill that might endanger their unfettered access to natural resources on treaty lands. Their “industry partners” might actually have to pay mineral a...