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Notes for remarks

by

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change (Montreal, PQ)
“The Ethics of Climate Change”

World Council of Churches

Montreal, PQ
December 6, 2005

(Check against delivery)

Thank you. It’s a real pleasure to be here today to speak with you. My colleague, Ontario’s Minister of Energy Donna Cansfield, and I are here in Montreal to represent Ontario at this important conference.

Merci. Je suis ravie d’être ici aujourd’hui pour vous parler. Ma collègue Donna Cansfield et moi-même sommes à Montréal pour représenter l’Ontario à cette importante conférence.

For non-Canadians, let me quickly tell you a bit about our great province, just to the west of Quebec.

Ontario has the largest population of any Canadian province, 12 million people, and the largest economy by far. We have a strong manufacturing sector, a great deal of commerce and agriculture, and a long tradition of mining and forestry, especially in our north.

We are also the province that borders on the Great Lakes, and that makes us the shared keepers of the single largest source of fresh water on Earth. On the subject of water, I’m proud to say that just yesterday I introduced a new piece of legislation -- The Clean Water Act. If passed, it will regulate the protection of our natural sources of drinking water right across the province. It is unprecedented legislation. For the first time, Ontarians’ water will be protected, reliable, safe and clean from source to tap.

But back to my snapshot of Ontario: We’re directly upwind of the heavy industries of the American mid-west which unfortunately makes us Canada’s largest recipient of transboundary air pollution. In fact, fifty per cent of our air pollution originates in the United States.

I am glad to know that the World Council of Churches is here, helping to raise the ethical issues of climate change. It is important to put aside what we are doing for a moment and consider why we are doing it. And for me, the answer is crystal clear: we’re doing it for our future, for our families, for our children.

There is no question in my mind that climate change is a real threat to the sustainability of our way of life, that we are contributing to the problem and that we have a responsibility to address it.

Il n’y a aucun doute pour moi que le changement climatique menace véritablement notre mode de vie, que nous contribuons au problème et que nous avons la responsabilité de contribuer aux efforts déployés pour trouver une solution.

Climate change, from an ethical point of view, demands a shared responsibility. This is a global issue and the moral imperative to act rests on many shoulders.

Of course, we’re all aware that there are critics of the Kyoto protocol and some that question the science behind climate change. These critics need to wake up. In my view, there is no time to waste. It is government’s role to raise the bar high, to set standards that will effectively encourage change. As a society, we have no choice.

For instance, many critics have said that taking on climate change will require a massive adjustment in the way we live and do business.

I ask them: has it ever been any other way? When has the status quo ever been acceptable? Business, above anyone else, should understand that.

What we build, where we live, how we get our fuel and energy – these have changed many times in our history. And they will change again. Will they do so for the better or for the worse?

Ce que nous construisons, les lieux où nous vivons, la manière dont nous obtenons notre carburant et notre énergie – tout cela a changé bien des fois au cours de l’histoire. Et cela changera encore. Mais est-ce que ce sera en mieux ou en pire?

It seems appropriate to draw from the Bible today. My choice is from the Proverbs: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

If we do take real actions to address climate change, our economy in fifty years may be unrecognizable to someone today, and that could be a very good thing.

Potentially, we could have an economy based on clean and renewable fuels, on zero-emission transportation, on energy-efficient homes and businesses. Actions to address climate change won’t destroy the economy; they will replace it with something better.

We know that business and community leaders like you are all listening. Just like most people, we all want to do the right thing. We accept our fair share of responsibility and the idea that we must contribute to a greater common future. We’re not actively resisting change: we just don’t all know how to change, or why we should.

Globally, we need to be “sensitized” to environmental issues. My government is not afraid to do the right thing for the province and for the future. We are closing all of our coal-fired electricity plants. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our province by 30 mega tonnes a year. We shut the first plant down this year and we will close the last one by 2009.

This was a tough decision but we knew it had to be done.

5800 Ontarians die every year from illness related to air pollution. Childhood asthma rates have skyrocketed in recent years. Air pollution incurs $3.4 billion dollars a year in health and environmental costs in Ontario.

Coal will be replaced by a mix of cleaner and renewable energy, and help create a more competitive energy market. And one thing is certain: the marketplace will demand clean technologies in time.

Above all else, people will put their families first, and their values will reflect their decisions. Today, many people are willing to pay more for a car with a reputation for safety. Will they do the same for a car that is cleaner? I know I did! I recently bought a hybrid vehicle. That’s because I was thinking about my family which includes newborn twins for whom I want a cleaner, greener future. It was a decision based on ethics.

Ontario has been helping the shift away from the old rules that stifled innovation. We have strengthened our air emissions standards and set new emissions caps on our largest industrial sectors. We have introduced environmental penalties to create a financial incentive for staying in compliance and preventing spills.

L’Ontario a contribué au mouvement visant à s’écarter des vieilles règles qui empêchent l’innovation. Nous avons renforcé les normes d’émission dans l’air et nous avons établi de nouveaux plafonds pour les émissions provenant des plus grands secteurs industriels. Nous avons instauré des pénalités environnementales pour encourager la conformité et la prévention des déversements par le biais d’un incitatif financier.

Changes like these create a climate that favours the clean and the efficient.

We can work with industry to make the manufacturing process the greenest in the world. And we can educate consumers about choosing the products they buy and the services they use.

Ethics lie in choice. It is our moral responsibility, no matter who we are, to make choices that contribute to preserving our shared wealth and values.

In Ontario, we are addressing our domestic emissions of air pollution and greenhouse gases. We are also looking to our neighbours to do their share, to protect our health and to preserve our future.

En Ontario, nous faisons quelque chose pour lutter contre les émissions de polluants dans l’air et les gaz à effet de serre. Et nous nous attendons à ce que nos voisins fassent leur part, pour protéger notre santé et préserver notre avenir.

It is no coincidence that the most prosperous jurisdictions are also those with the highest environmental standards. The two must stay linked as we work towards a more sustainable future.

To quote President John F. Kennedy, in an address to the United Nations in 1963, he said, “We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world--or to make it the last.”

Well, everyone in Canada knows President Kennedy, but perhaps not all of you know Tommy Douglas, a great Canadian politician, a visionary, in fact, who was the father of universal healthcare in this country. He started out as a Baptist Minister and, coincidentally, came from Heyburn, Saskatchewan, where I was born. In Mr. Douglas’ words, “Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world.”

Thank you.

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