The Ontario government is facing fierce criticism after revealing plans to eliminate legal requirements that compel it to set and update greenhouse gas reduction targets — a move environmental advocates say effectively dismantles accountability for the province’s climate commitments.
Buried near the end of Thursday’s fall economic statement, the proposal seeks to repeal key sections of the 2018 Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, which currently requires Ontario to establish emissions reduction goals, maintain a climate plan, and publicly report on its progress.
The timing raised eyebrows, coming just weeks after Ontario’s auditor general released a scathing report warning that the province was falling even further behind on its own emissions targets — and only weeks before lawyers for the government are set to defend that plan in court.
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy defended the decision, saying the province remains committed to reducing emissions but will focus on “outcomes, not targets.”
Critics, however, say the move is a transparent attempt to avoid legal accountability. “They’re about to be potentially held to account for not doing enough on climate change,” said Nathalie Chalifour, a climate law expert at the University of Ottawa. “Instead of defending their target, they’ve simply removed it.”
Lawyer Fraser Thomson of Ecojustice, representing seven young Ontarians challenging the province’s climate plan in court, said the change shows the Ford government is “further retreating from the climate fight.” He warned that dismantling the legal framework for climate accountability “dangerously fuels the crisis” and threatens the constitutional rights of young people who will face the brunt of its impacts.
The government’s move also drew condemnation from opposition parties. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner accused Premier Doug Ford’s government of “giving up on climate action,” saying, “They essentially don’t have a climate plan — and now they’re making that legal.”
The sections targeted for repeal are central to the ongoing constitutional court case, which began after Ford’s government scrapped Ontario’s cap-and-trade system in 2018 and replaced the previous Liberal-era target of 37 per cent below 1990 emissions levels by 2030 with a weaker goal of 30 per cent below 2005 levels.
Evidence in the case suggests that the revised target would allow an additional 30 megatonnes of CO₂ emissions per year — equivalent to adding seven million gas-powered cars to Ontario’s roads.
Although the Ontario Superior Court initially dismissed the case, ruling that the plaintiffs were trying to impose a “free-standing” duty to fight climate change, the Court of Appeal later reinstated it, finding that Ontario had a “self-imposed obligation” to act meaningfully under the Charter. The case returns to court in December for new hearings.
Despite the government’s assurances that it remains committed to reducing emissions through transit expansion, nuclear power, and energy efficiency investments, critics argue that scrapping the legal requirements marks a profound step backward in Ontario’s climate accountability — and signals a government retreating from its own environmental promises.