Canada warbler © John Sutton CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
About
Ontarians will be returning to the polls on June 2, 2022. Now is the time to assess the candidates and parties, and their environmental platforms. We must make our voices heard about the urgent need to address the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change.
Together, we can be the voice for wild species and wild spaces.
Please help make the environment central to this election. Candidates must hear that we will not stand for continued biodiversity loss and climate inaction.
© Elena Elisseeva
Priority Election Issues
- Science indicates we need to protect at least 30% of our lands and waters. Yet Ontario has protected less than 11%. Call for candidates in your riding to expand protected areas, a nature-based solution to climate change and biodiversity loss.
- We are facing an unprecedented and accelerating loss of biodiversity. Call for your local candidates to restore a science-based approach to protect and recover species at risk.
- Environmental deregulation has gutted protections of the water, lands and wildlife on which we all depend (e.g., amendments to the Conservation Authorities Act, Environmental Assessment Act, Endangered Species Act, Planning Act). Call for candidates to respect the public voice and represent our collective interest in strong environmental laws and policies.
Please speak up about any other environmental issues that may not be covered here but are important to people in your riding.
Red-headed woodpecker, endangered © Bill McDonald
What You Can Do
There’s only one Ontario and the time to protect it is now.
- Sign our Election Action Alert
- Consider the issues that matter the most to you and see where your local candidates stand on them (and check their voting records)
- Write a letter to the editor
- Ask your friends and neighbours to vote for the environment
- Send letters to candidates running in your district asking for specific commitments
- Ask questions at all-candidate debates
- Register to vote, learn about voting and then… vote!
Community Action Fair © Brendan Toews
A Vote for Nature Is
- A vote for the security and well-being of our children and grandchildren.
- A vote for the programs, laws, and policies that protect our collective well-being and quality of life.
- A vote to put our long-term interests ahead of unsustainable, short-term profiteering.
- Your chance to be heard!
A healthy environment is the foundation for healthy people and a healthy economy.
Bayfield, Lake Huron © Gary Lloyd-Rees CC BY-NC 2.0
Impact
Whom Ontarians elect to form the next provincial government will have huge implications for setting environmental policy for the next four years.
Ontario contains one-fifth of the world’s freshwater, the third-largest wetland in the world, more than 240 species at risk, 3,600 plant species, 70 Important Bird Areas and roughly 300 species of breeding birds. The provincial government has primary jurisdiction over our lands and waters.
In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that “Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach.” In March 2022, the panel found that the costs of climate change impacts have been rising in Canada since 1983, from an average of about $0.4 billion to $1.9 billion annually.
Please share this webpage with your friends and family about the importance of voting for nature in the election.
Cawthra Mulock Nature Reserve © Sam Demers