The Ontario budget's failure to directly address climate change represents a "gross abdication of responsibility" by the government, some critics argue, saying the province rapidly needs to do more to adapt to a changing climate. Ontario Premier Doug Ford greets workers prior to a funding announcement, in Ottawa, on Thursday, March 28, 2024.
As last summer's extreme heat and wildfires gave way to the warmest winter on record, threatening tourism sectors and melting winter roads to remote First Nations, critics say the government needs to show it's better prepared. Governments in Quebec and British Columbia, meanwhile, made climate change a feature of their recent budgets. Quebec's budget included a section on environment and climate change adaptation, paired with a $127.5-million investment over five years. The B.C. budget pledged $1 billion to climate-related initiatives, including bolstered wildfire response.
It comes as experts say climate change is intensifying wildfires and warn 2024 could rival last year's season. Ontario's Financial Accountability Office reported in November that the dangers of a changing climate could add more than $4 billion per year to the cost of maintaining Ontario's public infrastructure. The report said the province and municipalities could cut that cost by proactively making hospitals, schools, stormwater pipes and other public infrastructure more resilient to extreme heat and rainfall.
"Conserving natural spaces plays an important role in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change by providing safe havens for wildfire, capturing and storing carbon, and improving resilience to weather events, such as flooding and drought," Dana Kleniewski, Nature Conservancy Canada's acting regional vice-president in Ontario, wrote in a statement.