Ontario may have shut down its last coal plant earlier this year, but the province still needs to make major cuts to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it produces if the provincial government is serious about tackling global warming, according to a new report.

“The provincial government hasn’t even delivered on commitments it made seven years ago,” Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller said in a statement on Wednesday.

Miller, who is Ontario’s independent environmental watchdog, did not mince words in his report on the province’s slow progress in reducing its overall carbon footprint. He says Ontario will not meet its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets “because [Ontario] has taken very little additional action to implement the Climate Change Action Plan it released seven years ago.”

“We need to limit the increase in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius. But that can only be done if we leave two-thirds of the existing oil and natural gas reserves in the ground. People need to understand that brutal fact,” Miller warns.

Ontario’s 2007 Action Plan on Climate Change requires the province to cut its output of greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent by this year and 15 per cent by 2020 (from 1990 levels). Ontario will achieve its 2014 reductions goal largely because of the province-wide coal phase out, but is off track in meeting its 2020 target: 

“GHG emissions will exceed the target by 28 Mt (megatonnes) in 2020. This is a significant amount; it is almost twice the total emissions from the electricity sector in 2012,” according to Miller’s report.

Ontario GHG emissions measured in megatonnes.

Transportation Is Ontario’s Achilles Heel

Despite Ontario’s coal phase out — the “single largest regulatory action in North America” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — and a 21 per cent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions produced by industry in Ontario since 1990, the province’s overall carbon footprint remains relatively unchanged.

Ontario's GHG emissions by sector.

“Partially offsetting these reductions, however, has been the 24 per cent increase in emissions from the transportation sector since 1990. The transportation sector remains the largest contributor to the overall provincial inventory,” the report states.

 “The 2007 Action Plan said the government would reduce transportation emissions by 19 megatonnes (Mt) by 2020. That goal, unfortunately, has now been cut by almost 80 per cent. I have been given no reason why, and no explanation about what the Ontario government plans to do instead,” Miller writes.

Transportation currently accounts for 34 per cent of Ontario’s carbon footprint. The provincial government revised its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in 2012 for the transportation sector from 19 megatonnes to barely four megatonnes. The report insists “it is incumbent” upon the provincial government to explain why the targets for the transportation sector have been so “severely downgraded.”

Transportation GHG emissions by type of vehicle.

A shift from cars to sport utility vehicles (SUVs), pickup trucks and minivans in Ontario spurred on by low oil prices account for much of the increase in emissions within the transportation sector between 1990 and 2005 according to the Environmental Commissioner.

Ontario Needs the Same Type of Leadership That Pushed For the Coal Phase-Out

Miller says that in order for Ontario to take appropriate action on climate change the province needs the same type leadership that led to the coal phase out and to follow the examples of other provinces such as Quebec and British Columbia:

“British Columbia has brought in a carbon tax, Quebec has implemented a cap-and trade system for carbon credits. Meanwhile, Ontario appears to have lost the ambition it once had and won’t even look at directives to ensure more compact urban development or a serious commitment to using electricity for transportation,” Miller says.

Sink or Swim: Ontario Needs to Adapt to Climate Change Too

The Environmental Commissioner also recommends Ontario begin implementing strategies to adapt to a changing climate, particularly in regards to improving stormwater management practices. 

“Ontario has always experienced storms; however, the province has recently faced more intense and frequent extreme weather, as well as unprecedented damages costs,” the Environmental Commissioner’s report states.

A rainstorm in Toronto last summer saturated the city in a two-hour period with twice the amount of precipitation Toronto usually gets for the entire month of July (126 millimetres). That resulted in 1.3 billion litres of bypassed sewage flowing into Lake Ontario over 28 hours without residents being notified.

In total, 4.2 billion litres of sewage bypassed treatment plants and flooded into waterways in Toronto alone last year.

“We are having changes to our climate here, so we’re seeing more and more intensive rain than we have in the past,” Mark Mattson, president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper told DeSmog Canada.

“The latest scientific evidence shows that the pace of climate change is accelerating. Extreme weather events have increased dramatically around the world,” Miller says. 

Image Credit: Environmental Commissioner of Ontario

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Toronto residents should be alerted when sewage is being dumped into public waters, argues a legal request filed with the Ontario government  by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

The request was filed July 9, on the anniversary of last year’s widespread flooding, which resulted in 1.3 billion litres of sewage flowing into the Humber River and Lake Ontario over the course of 28 hours without residents being informed.

“We see it as a slam dunk,” Waterkeeper president Mark Mattson told DeSmog Canada. “We’ve never met anyone who thought it shouldn’t happen. If there’s a heat alert, you publish it. If there’s a smog alert, you publish it. It should be the same for sewage.”

The Ministry of the Environment has two months to respond to Waterkeeper’s request.

*Update on July 24: The Minister of the Environment Glen Murray accepted Waterkeepers application and now has until September 13 to decide whether or not to conduct a review. Murray told the Toronto Sun: “I feel that the public has the right to know when bypasses occur. Every city or town has a responsibility to notify the public when a bypass occurs. Municipalities have standards in law as well as their own plans in place that they need to follow.”

In 2013, 4.2 billion litres of sewage bypassed treatment plants and went straight into Toronto’s waterways.

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“There are 10 beaches in Toronto, 55 kilometres of waterfront. People have their dogs running around, people are paddling on the water,” Mattson said.

It took the Waterkeeper group four months and a Freedom of Information request to get information from the city on how much sewage was released during the flood.

“What’s the point of having the information in October when the information needs to be known when it happens?” Mattson said. 

Sewage is dumped directly into Toronto’s waterways about three times a month when the sewer system can’t handle the volume of liquids. Toronto residents paddle, sail and fish in areas where sewage bypasses are taking place, generally unaware that the water could make them sick.

Contaminated water can make people sick

Human contact with sewage-contaminated water can result in serious health concerns including eye, ear, nose and throat infections. If any contaminated water is consumed, it can cause stomach disorders and rashes, and even result in typhoid fever, hepatitis or dysentery.

“We feel like there’s a real disconnect between people and their water these days. They don’t have all the facts. There’s this tendency to think everything’s being taken care of,” Mattson said.  

The city of Kingston, Ont., has been alerting citizens when sewage overflows into waterways since 2006. That has brought a lot of pressure to deal with the antiquated sewage system, Mattson said.

“Here in Toronto, everyone just assumes it’s not that big a problem because they don’t have the information,” Mattson added.

And yet, every time there’s more than 25 millimetres of rain (last year’s storm saw 120 mm fall in just a few hours), the city’s aging pipes can’t handle the volume and sewage is flushed into waterways.

“It’s always best not to go swimming anywhere after it rains,” Mattson said.

Climate change, population growth exacerbating problem

The problem is only getting worse as the city grows and storms hit with higher frequency.

“We are having changes to our climate here, so we’re seeing more and more intensive rain than we have in the past,” Mattson said.

With safety in mind, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper created the SwimGuide app, which has been downloaded over 200,000 times and helps people find clean beaches.

The group is also part of Mountain Equipment Co-op’s Homewaters campaign, which is urging outdoor enthusiasts to sign up to bolster Waterkeeper’s legal push for public alerts every time sewage is spilled into local waters.

“I see this as a building block toward rebuilding swimmable, drinkable, fishable water in Canada,” Mattson said.  

This story was made possible through support from Mountain Equipment Co-op as part of its Homewaters campaign, which is dedicated to preserving Canada’s fresh water from coast to coast.

Image: Lake Ontario Waterkeeper

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