Ontario Releases Its New Environment Plan

On November 29, 2018, the Ontario government released its promised plan to address climate change, titled Preserving and Protecting our Environment for Future Generations: A Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan (the Environment Plan). The Environment Plan addresses four main topics: protecting air and water; addressing climate change; reducing waste; and conserving greenspace. Interestingly, the document is not titled a "climate change plan," despite the fact that this is the phrase used in the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, which directed the preparation of this plan ("The Minister, with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, shall prepare a climate change plan and may revise the plan from time to time"). Instead, the focus of the document is broader, with one chapter being devoted to meeting the government's obligation to prepare a "climate change plan."