The phase-out of Ontario’s gas-fired power plants will help [Insert name of municipality] and the Province of Ontario to achieve their greenhouse gas pollution reduction goals.
Municipal Resolution
WHEREAS: The Government of Ontario is planning to increase electricity generation and greenhouse gas pollution from Ontario’s gas-fired power plants by more than 300% by 2025 and by more than 400% by 2040, reversing more than a third of the greenhouse gas pollution reductions achieved by phasing out our coal-fired power plants;
AND WHEREAS: Greenhouse gas pollution is causing temperatures in Canada to rise at more than double the rate of the rest of the world, causing impacts to the operations and citizens of the [insert name of municipality];
AND WHEREAS: The [insert name of municipality] has declared a Climate Emergency and is taking measures to mitigate and adapt to the climate impacts caused by increasing greenhouse gas pollution;
AND WHEREAS: There are feasible, cost-effective alternatives to increasing gas-fired electricity generation without increasing greenhouse gas pollution at costs well below the current price for Ontario’s nuclear energy (9.5 cents/kWh), including:
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energy efficiency investments;
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low-cost, distributed, renewable energy, providing employment in Ontario communities and restoring our leadership in this industry;
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the purchase of low-cost power offered by the Province of Quebec from its existing hydroelectric generating stations; and
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using Quebec’s system of reservoirs like a giant battery to back-up made-in-Ontario renewable power, eliminating the need to use gas-fired power plants for this purpose;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the [insert name of municipality] requests the Government of Ontario to place an interim cap of 2.5 megatonnes per year on the greenhouse gas pollution from Ontario’s gas-fired power plants and develop and implement a plan to phase-out all gas-fired electricity generation by 2030 to help Ontario and [insert name of municipality] meet their climate targets.
AND BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that this resolution be sent to the Premier of Ontario, the Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, all local MPPs and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.